Self-Protection: Trauma Patients' Perspectives of their Motor Vehicle Crashes

Abstract

A grounded theory study was conducted with 21 informants to provide theoretical analysis of behaviors surrounding motor vehicle crashes (MVC). Nonrespondent sources of data included songs, commercials, and automobile advertisements. Data were triangulated using constant comparative analysis. Self-protection strategies were contingent upon the drive revaluating loss of control during the MVC. The derived self-protection theory suggests that if motor vehicle control is perceived to have been lost and motor vehicle control is desirable following the MVC, then self-protection strategies to enhance perceptions of motor vehicle control will be adopted. Thus involvement in a MVC and sustaining injuries from the MVC appear to be insufficient for motivating self-protective actions. Consistent with previous research studies, if injured drivers did not perceive that occurrence of MVCs can be controlled, they did not identify self-protective behaviors that were specific to driving.

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