Ron Van Houten, Joy Van Houten, & J. E. Louis Malenfant (2007). Impact of a comprehensive safety program on bicycle helmet use among middle-school children. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 40, 239-247.

A bicycle helmet program was evaluated in three middle schools using a multiple baseline across schools design. Two of the three schools had histories of enforcement of helmet use. During baseline many students riding their bikes to and from school did not wear their helmets or wore them incorrectly. A program that consisted of peer data collection of correct helmet use, education on how to wear a bicycle helmet correctly, peer goal setting, public posting of the percentage of correct helmet use, and shared reinforcers, all of which were implemented by the school resource officer, increased afternoon helmet use and afternoon correct helmet use in all three schools. Probe data collected a distance from all three schools indicated that students did not remove their helmets once they were no longer in close proximity to the school, and probe data collected in the morning at two of the schools showed that the behavior change transferred to the morning.

DESCRIPTORS: bicycle helmet use, goal setting, enforcement, public posting, peer data monitoring, bicycle safety