Paper Example on Description of The Chosen Injury Prevention Intervention

Motor vehicle-related injuries are one of the leading causes of injuries and fatalities in the United States. According to the CDC (2017), motor vehicle injuries lead to the hospitalization of over 2.3 million Americans per year. Additionally, the latest data shows that more than 35,000 people lost their lives to motor vehicle crashes in 2015 or approximately 96 individuals every day (CDC, 2017). Moreover, it has been reported that motor vehicle-related crashes are the leading cause of mortality in the first 30 years of American citizens' lives (CDC, 2017). It has also been established that motor vehicle-related deaths cost American citizens $44 billion in medical-related expenses and work-related losses per year (CDC, 2017).

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Because of the adverse consequences associated with motor vehicle crashes, there is a need for effective injury prevention intervention. The intervention that I selected for this assignment is the avoidance of distractions while driving. Distracted driving occurs when drivers engage simultaneously in other nondriving activities that take their attention away from driving. According to the CDC (2019b), distractions that should be avoided while driving include the use of social media (e.g., Facebook and Twitter), the use of email, and texting while driving. The CDC (2019b) noted that text messaging while driving takes drivers' eyes off the road for more than five seconds. It has also been established that every day, about nine people lose their lives and over 1,000 are injured in crashes involving distracted drivers (CDC, 2019a).

The Application of the Diffusion of Innovations Theory to Avoidance of Distractions

Characteristics of The Innovation

There are four key attributes of innovation that affect diffusion: relative advantage, compatibility, trialability, and observability (Ku, Park, & Kim, 2016). First, innovation will only be adopted by intended users if it offers more benefits than other ideas that currently exist- a construct referred to as relative advantage (Sugarhood, Wherton, Procter, Hinder, & Greenhalgh, 2014). That is, the new idea should be an improved version of the previous or a currently existing idea. The proposed innovation required to avoid texting while driving is drivers' use of an app that blocks incoming calls and texts (UC Davis Health, 2017). Among these apps, a highly recommended one is one that sends an automatic response back allowing the sender to understand that a person (driver) is driving and will get back to him or her after parking (UC Davis Health, 2017).

Second, compatibility refers to the ability of the innovation to fit the intended audience (Nehme, Perez, Ranjit, Amick, & Kohl, 2016). Because the proposed intervention (avoidance of distractions while driving by using an app that blocks incoming calls and texts) is targets youths and young adults, it will be readily accepted because this group of individuals are technologically-savvy. Third, innovations that are considered easy to use will be accepted readily, while complex ones are less likely to be adopted (Tanye, 2017). The intended audience will quickly adopt the proposed intervention because such apps can be easily downloaded as apps from stores.

Trialability refers to the ease with which the target audience interact with the innovation of interact with the new product (Emani et al., 2018). I believe that the use of an app to block calls and text while driving is an effortless process since the target audience is more likely to be tech-savvy because they are youths and young adults. Lastly, observability refers to the degree to which the outcomes of an innovation are visible to the adopters (Davidson, Weberg, Porter-O'Grady, & Malloch, 2016). If the results of the innovation are available and beneficial, there is an increased likelihood that the target audience will adopt.

Characteristics of Adopters

Personal attributes of the adopters influence an individual's decision to adopt an innovation. Factors that may influence target audience decision to use apps to block texts and calls while driving includes psychological antecedents such as learning styles. My target audience can also be characterized as innovators because they are more likely to want to be interested in innovation because of their robust technological skills.

Features of The Settings or Environmental Contexts

The proposed prevention intervention will be implemented in a local university, which will be the geographical setting. Such a geographical setting is more likely to encourage the diffusion of innovation because of the presence of youths and young adults with advanced technological skills.

The Merits and Demerits of Using Diffusion of Innovations Theory

The primary advantage attributable to the diffusion of innovation theory is that it places adopters into five categories, thus allowing for tailored strategies to enhance the adoption of innovation. One of the limitations of using diffusion of innovation theory in the implementation of the proposed intervention is that it does not take into consideration adopters' social support or resources that may be needed to adopt the innovation (LaMorte, 2019). For example, in the proposed innovation, the theory does not take into account adopters' access to the internet or mobile phones capable of accommodating apps that block calls and text.

References

CDC. (2017). CDC winnable battles progress report. Retrieved from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website: https://www.cdc.gov/winnablebattles/report/index.html

CDC. (2019a). Distracted driving. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/distracted_driving/index.html

CDC. (2019b). Holiday road safety. Retrieved from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website: https://www.cdc.gov/injury/features/holiday-road-safety/index.html

Davidson, S., Weberg, D., Porter-O'Grady, T., & Malloch, K. (2016). Leadership for evidence-based innovation in nursing and health professions. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Emani, S., Peters, E., Desai, S., Karson, A. S., Lipsitz, S. R., LaRocca, R., Bates, D. W. (2018). Perceptions of adopters versus non-adopters of a patient portal: An application of diffusion of innovation theory. BMJ Health & Care Informatics, 25(3), 149-157. https://doi.org/10.14236/jhi.v25i3.991

Ku, H. J., Park, S. Y., & Kim, S. Y. (2016). Effects of the innovative attributes (Relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability), system quality, self-efficacy and subjective norm of the mobile learning on university students' innovation resistance and acceptance of mobile learning. Journal of Agricultural Education and Human Resource Development. Retrieved from http://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=KR2017003838

LaMorte, W. W. (2019). Diffusion of innovation theory. Retrieved from http://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/SB/BehavioralChangeTheories/BehavioralChangeTheories4.html

Nehme, E. K., Perez, A., Ranjit, N., Amick, B. C., & Kohl, H. W. (2016). Behavioral theory and transportation cycling research: Application of Diffusion of Innovations. Journal of Transport & Health, 3(3), 346-356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2016.05.127

Sugarhood, P., Wherton, J., Procter, R., Hinder, S., & Greenhalgh, T. (2014). Technology as system innovation: A key informant interview study of the application of the diffusion of innovation model to telecare. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 9(1), 79-87. https://doi.org/10.3109/17483107.2013.823573

Tanye, H. A. (2017). Perceived attributes of innovation: Perceived security as an additional attribute to roger's diffusion of innovation theory. International Journal of Multicultural and Multireligious Understanding, 3(6). https://doi.org/10.18415/ijmmu.v3i6.56

UC Davis Health. (2017). Tips for preventing texting while driving. Retrieved from https://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/health-news/newsroom/tips-for-preventing-texting-while-driving/2017/04