y Safety
BY CARL METZGAR
Studies show
Prudence suggests that when an article in the Sunday supple- ments or unreferenced news item on the web opens with
“studies show” that it is time to engage
energetic skepticism. When I delivered information to my grandmother
(generally of the “do you know what I
heard?” variety), she would smile and
tell me to take that “with a grain of
salt.” “Studies show” calls for salt.
Whose studies? Who paid for the
study? Why did they bother? Did the
conclusion come before or after the
study was done? What information was
used? Can the information be checked?
Since questions are more interesting
than answers, let’s push on a bit.
It is generally agreed that motor-vehicle collisions are the leading cause
of death and disability to teenagers in
the United States. A challenge to teens,
parents, law enforcement and public
health researchers is how to get the gen-eralities of “be careful” into prevention
specifics for teen drivers that will work.
Getting the message across to teens
was a troubling question to a doctor and a nurse at a large hospital. It’s
no wonder they were troubled; they
worked in the emergency room. The
researchers got some groups of people,
Any study calls for grandma’s grain
of salt, and a single, small study
not yet repeated with confirming
results calls for more than a grain.
Safety tip
including teens and adults, together.
The adult group was made up of trauma, injury prevention and social staff;
the teen group was made up of students
in random familiar settings (school
programs, sports events and the mall).
Each group was asked to evaluate three
posters and select the one most likely
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