Knowledge and Attitudes on First Aid among Advanced Level Students in Gampaha Educational Zone, Sri Lanka

Abstract

First aid is the initial care given in an emergency, to protect life and to prevent worsening of the condition of the victims, until they are undertaken by a professional medical person. This research was done to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices on first aid among advanced level students in government schools in Gampaha educational zone. A descriptive cross-sectional study using a pretested questionnaire was self-administered to collect the data among grade 12 students (n=510) in five randomly selected schools. Chi-square test was used to assess the associations and a p-value <0.05 was considered as significant. Student’s mean first aid knowledge was 57.4±13.5 while 1% (n=5) were categorized as having “inadequate knowledge”, 30.6% (n=156), 61.4% (n=313) and 7.1% (n=36) were having “moderate”, “good” and “excellent” knowledge respectively. Only 16.9% (n=86) of the students were previously trained in first aid. Positive attitudes towards first aid were found and 98.8% students (n=504) believed it is essential to have first aid knowledge. A weak correlation was found between the knowledge and attitudes (r=0.134). Biology stream students were significantly more knowledgeable than others (χ2=31.7, p<0.001). A significantly higher knowledge score was found in the students who had followed health science in their O/L (χ2=12.4, p=0.006). However, gender and previous training on first aid had no significant relationship with their knowledge (p>0.05). Addition of first aid as a part of the school curriculum and improving the standards of the existing first aid training programs is recommended.