Effect of First Aid of Choking Training Program on Knowledge and Skills of Primary School Children

Background: Most child deaths in the world have been attributed to a lack of knowledge and practice in emergency and accident situations. Airway obstruction in children by a foreign body is a major health problem. The extent of injury can be reduced to a minimum if school children are provided with appropriate knowledge about first aid skills, injury prevention, and how to deal with them, which may increase the survival chances of the injured person. Aim of the study: This research aims to assess the effect of a training program on school children’s knowledge and skills about first aid of choking cases. Material and methods: Research design: an experimental design /pretest-posttest with control group/ was followed in the present study. Setting: Data were collected from Gamal Abdel Nasser Abu Khosreen and Zur Reda Al-Sharqiya schools in the city of Hama/Syria. Sampling: The study was conducted on a random sample of 150 children aged between 8-10 years. The sample members were randomly divided into two groups (experimental group with 100 children and control group with 50 children). Study Tools: Three tools were developed by the researcher. Tool I is a demographic information questionnaire, Tool II is an information questionnaire for children about choking, and Tool III is a choking first aid checklist. Results:  The current study showed that the children of the experimental group, before implementing the program, did not know what choking is by 71% and did not know what behaviors might lead to it by 82%. However, after applying the program, 100% of the children of the experimental group knew what choking is and what behaviors it is which may lead to it. The study also revealed that after applying the program there was a significant statistical difference (P = 0.000) in the average information of children about signs indicating choking between the two study groups in favor of the experimental group. As for children’s skills in first aid in cases of choking after applying the program to the experimental group, a statistically significant difference (P = 0.000) was found in the average of children’s skills between the two study groups in favor of the experimental group. Conclusion:From the previous results it was concluded that the training program was effective in increasing children’s information and skills about first aid for choking.