Motivating safety belt use at a community hospital : an effective integration of incentive and commitment strategies.

An effective hospital- based safety- belt program incorporated several advantages over prior attempts to increase safety belt use, including: a) the use of indigenous staff as program sponsors, coordinators, and delivery agents; b) a year- long program evaluation, and c) a combination of extrinsic incentives and intrinsic commitment. Overall, belt use increased from a two- week baseline mean of 15.6% to 34.7% during the sixth month intervention, and decreased to 25.6% at withdrawal.