Publication:

A study on the effectiveness of educational intervention regarding first aid management of selected medical emergencies among adolescents at a school in Kolkata

Background Preventable medical emergencies and accidents accounts for a major share of mortality worldwide. First-aid is the provision of initial, on spot management for an illness or injury, meted out by a trained person, who is not an expert, till professional medical assistance is available. School children have often been projected as a potentially promising agent for radically revolutionizing the health scenario of our society, if properly mentored. The aim of study was to assess the changes in knowledge and attitude of adolescent school children towards first-aid management, after appropriate educational intervention.

Methods It was a school based quasi-experimental study conducted among 201 adolescent children. Baseline knowledge and attitude about first-aid management of selected medical emergencies were assessed using pre-designed, pre-tested questionnaire. Then, educational intervention was administered in the form of lectures and demonstrations. Post-interventional evaluation was done using the same questionnaire, after two weeks of intervention. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 16.0.

Results Health professionals (29.2%) and teachers (26.1%) were the primary source of knowledge. Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test was carried out to determine effect of intervention on knowledge and attitude scores of the students. There was a statistically significant increase in knowledge (Z=-10.982, p<0.001) with large effect size (r=0.54) and an increase in attitude, though not statistically significant (Z=-1.949, p=0.05) with small effect size (r=0.09).

Conclusions There is a need for a uniform, interactive module including hands on activities and periodic mock drills to be incorporated as a separate entity to encourage participation.