The Need for First Aid Awareness among Candidate Teachers

Abstract

Objectives
Students at schools may require first aid due to illness, deterioration in their condition, or accidents. Therefore, educators should know first aid procedures and be able to put them into practice. In this study, the objective was to determine the level of first aid knowledge among students at a Faculty of Education and evaluate the efficacy of the first aid training (FAT) provided to them.
Methods
This study included 88 students at Gazi University, Faculty of Education (Ankara). All students were provided 20 hours of FAT over a period of three months. Participants completed pre- and post-FAT questionnaires and a final examination.
Results
Sixty-one percent of participants (n=54) had attended FAT within the previous five years. Average pre- and and post-test scores were 47.89±11.29 and 75.28±12.62, respectively. There was a significant increase between the average scores (p<0.001). The proportion of correct responses on basic life support issues was also significantly higher after the training. Significantly more participants felt they had sufficient first aid knowledge and skills after the training (58%) compared to pre-training (8%) levels (p<0.001).
Conclusions
First aid knowledge among students at a Faculty of Education was considered to be insufficient. FAT should be standard in educational programs at all teacher training schools and the results show such training needs to be updated regularly.