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OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT02923271

Promoting Intrafamily Accountability for Reducing Cellphone Use While Driving in Adults and Their Teen Children

Research participants and their parents will be recruited to take part in a randomized control trial. Participants' and their parents' cellphone use will be observed during an initial baseline period. Participants and their parents will then be randomly assigned to one of two conditions: opt-out blocking with parental notification, opt-out blocking with bidirectional notification.

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Key information

Age range

16 year–17 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

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About this study

In 2012, 3,328 people were killed and an additional 421,000 were injured in crashes involving a distracted driver. Adults aged greater than 40 years old accounted for 44% of these fatalities. Teen driving behavior is heavily influenced by parental driving behaviors with a recent study showing the proportion of teens that text while driving is 14% higher if they have observed their parents doing the same. The proportion of adults who text while driving has recently surpassed teen rates with a 2013 national poll finding 49% of adult car commuters admit to texting while driving, most stating that they did it out of habit. Based on previous findings, it is unlikely that teens will reduce their texting while driving unless their parents do the same.

The objective of this study is to compare measures of acceptance and feasibility across teen-parent dyads randomized to bidirectional teen-parent (teen monitors parent and parent monitors teen) vs. teen only (parent monitors teen) cellphone use while driving.

Research participants will be recruited to take part in a randomized control trial. Participants' cellphone use will be observed during an initial baseline period. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions (bidirectional teen-parent monitoring or parental monitoring of the teen only). An exit survey and interview will be administered to both the parent and teen separately at the end of the study.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Both parent and teen will be enrolled together as a pair
  • Teen:
  • Is a high school student (age 16 or 17 at start of the study)
  • Holds a valid driver's license
  • Lives in parent/guardian's home
  • Primarily drives one car
  • Drives an average of 4 or more trips per week
  • Has their own iPhone 4S or newer or Android 4.3 or newer smartphone with data plan
  • Admits to texting while driving at least once in the last month
  • Parent:
  • Is the parent of a teen driver
  • Drives an average of 4 or more trips per week
  • Primarily drives one car
  • Has their own iPhone 4S or newer or Android 4.3 or newer smartphone with data plan
  • Admits to texting while driving at least once in the last month

Exclusion criteria

  • Parent and/or teen already uses a smartphone app or hardware device to limit cellphone use while driving

Treatment and study plan

CellControl

Device

Technology that blocks incoming and outgoing calls and texts. CellControl Drive ID will monitor all cellphone use while driving (without blocking) for 3 weeks during baseline measurement period. During the intervention period (5 weeks) cellphone use will be monitored and blocking of incoming calls and texts will be active.

Other names: DriveID

Primary outcomes

  1. Change in Number of Cellphone Unlocks Per Hour of Drive Time

    Time frame: 8 weeks

    Change in number of cellphone unlocks per hour of drive time between baseline and the end of the intervention period

Secondary outcomes

  1. Change in the Number of Minutes of Phone Use Per Hour of Driving

    Time frame: 8 weeks

    Change in the number of minutes of phone use per hour of driving between baseline and the end of the intervention

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Other

Collaborators

  • University of Pennsylvania

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2016
Primary completion
2017
Study completion
2017
First posted
Oct 4, 2016
Registry last updated
Aug 20, 2019

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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