Cincinnati Home Injury Prevention (CHIP) Study

• The CHIP Study will look at ways to reduce injuries in the homes of young children.
• The CHIP Study also seeks to promote childhood literacy.
• The CHIP Study will recruit approximately 600 to 800 mothers from the ECS program over two years.

• Injury remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality for US children after the first year of life, and the home is the leading location of injury for younger US children.
• Interventions that can effect sizable reductions in childhood injury in the home could result in substantial reductions in pain and suffering while saving potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in healthcare costs.
• Many children in the United States are not read to every day, placing them at risk for reading delays and school failure. 

Mothers are eligible if they meet the following criteria:

• English speaking
• Enrolled in ECS and completed at least one ECS home visit
• Child is less than 5 months of age
• No plans to move outside of Cincinnati area in the next year
• Child currently lives less than three driving hours from Cincinnati Children’s
• Child is not a twin

Family is ECS Service Type only − this excludes all accounts marked as OTHER on the eECS Screening Form such as HMG Part C, HMG At Risk, first-time fathers in Kentucky.

• The ECS home visitor will introduce the CHIP Study to mothers / legal guardians at an ECS home visit. A study brochure will also be provided for families to review.
• The ECS home visitor will complete a CHIP Study referral form stating the mother / legal guardian’s interest level and fax it to CHIP Study personnel.  The CHIP Study will contact interested mothers / legal guardians and screen them for eligibility.
• Once a referral is received, the mother is contacted and screened for eligibility. If eligible, the first home visit is scheduled.

• Every participant will have a baseline CHIP home visit and two annual follow-up CHIP home visits, when the child is 12 and 24 months of age.   All participants will be contacted by phone approximately every three months to complete a phone survey.
• Participants in the injury prevention group may have safety equipment installed in their home to reduce residential injuries.   Participants in the literacy promotion group will have a home visit to address the importance of reading to children and discuss barriers.  Families will also receive several developmentally appropriate children’s books as well as other reading-time materials, such as a blanket, book bag and library card.

• Participants will receive $25 at the baseline CHIP home visit, $40 at the 12-month visit and $40 at the 24-month home visit. 
• Participants will receive a $5 gift card per completed phone survey. Gift cards are mailed after each completed survey.
• Participants in the injury prevention group will be able to keep all the safety equipment installed in their home.  Participants in the literacy promotion group will be able to keep all of the books and other reading-time materials.