”AWARENESS, ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES OF FIRST AID AMONG

GRADE 6 TEACHERS IN DALAHICAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL”

Researcher: Ian Israel T. Atienza

Degree: Bachelor of Secondary Education, Mapeh

Contact number: 09074942936

Adviser: Mrs. Reina V. Pasumbal

_________________________________________________________________________________

First aid is the assistance given to any person in distress or injury, with a goal to preserve life,
prevent injury from worsening, or to promote recovery. It includes initial intervention in a serious
condition prior to professional medical help being available, such as applying plaster a plaster to a
cut. First aid is generally performed by someone with basic medical training.

There are many situation which may require first aid, and many countries have legislation,
regulation, or guidance which specifies a minimum level of first aid provision in certain
circumstances. First aid, however does not necessarily require any particular equipment or prior
knowledge, and can involve improvisation with materials available at the time, often by untrained
persons.

The key guiding principle and purpose of first aid, is often given in the mnemonics 3 Ps. These three
points govern all the actions undertaken by first aider: 1. Prevent further injury 2. Preserve life 3.
Promote recovery.

This study is entitled, “Awareness, attitude and practices of first aid among grade 6 teachers in
Dalahican Elementary School. The specific objective of the study were to know what level of first
aid knowledge and practices is embraced in Dalahican Elementary school, and to determine the level
of awareness of the safety procedures by the teachers and staff of Dalahican Elementary school and
to establish preventive measures to prevent basic injuries in schools.
 A. Abstract

Rationale of research

This study tackles to assess the awareness, attitudes and practices of first aid among grade 6

teachers and to assess the preventive practices of first aid to be performed by the teachers.

First aid is the assistance given to any person in distress or injury, with a goal to preserve life,

prevent injury from worsening, or to promote recovery. It includes initial intervention in a serious

condition prior to professional medical help being available, such as applying plaster a plaster to a

cut. First aid is generally performed by someone with basic medical training.

There are many situation which may require first aid, and many countries have legislation,

regulation, or guidance which specifies a minimum level of first aid provision in certain

circumstances. First aid, however does not necessarily require any particular equipment or prior

knowledge, and can involve improvisation with materials available at the time, often by untrained

persons.

Simple Accidents, such as trips or slips, are common elements of day to day hustle of school

life. However, these little accidents are capable of causing serious injuries and worse.

It is well known that children ranging from (6 to 14 years age group) spend most of their time

in schools. In these settings, they are at a greater risk of injuries and medical emergencies due to a

higher level of involvement in extracurricular activities like sports. According to the Centre for

Disease Control Prevention, sports and recreation-related injuries are reported for more than 2.6

million schoolchildren world-wide annually.

Timely administered of first aid response to injuries and medical emergencies will help to

reduce complications. The cost of treatment and mortality among children. As school do not usually

have trained health care providers on site, it is essential for teachers to be trained in first aid
procedures. They also need to be updated periodically in their knowledge and skills to keep up with

the basic first aid guidelines. Teacher must be willing to assume the responsibility for completely

rendering first aid to students whenever the need arises. It is equally important for schools to be well

equipped with first aid facilities in order to make appropriate intervention possible.

Studies worldwide have noted a varied picture about first aid preparedness at schools and

among teachers. In studies done in Europe, for instance, the present culture is that all teachers must

first learn to perform first aid to themselves in order to teach their pupils basic first aid. Basic first aid

can be applied in classroom. There are studies that took place in all of Asia that awareness, attitudes

and practices of first aid among school teacher are very poor. Many of school teacher did not

received first aid training.

Purpose of the Research

The purpose of the study was to establish if grade 6 school teachers have any knowledge put

in place to detect accident prone activities and areas and to find out the attitudes of the personnel

using first aid. It is also aimed at establishing what preventive practices are in place to prevent

accidents and majority to check whether the personnel are trained on first aid.

Theoretical Framework

This study about the awareness of grade6 school teacher on first aid is anchored on Health

Belief Model (HBM).

The Health Belief Model (HBM) was developed in the early 1950s by social scientists at the

U.S. Public Health Service in order to understand the failure of people to adopt disease prevention

strategies or screening tests for the early detection of disease. Later uses of HBM were for patients'

responses to symptoms and compliance with medical treatments. The HBM suggests that a person's
belief in a personal threat of an illness or disease together with a person's belief in the effectiveness

of the recommended health behavior or action will predict the likelihood the person will adopt the

behavior.

The HBM derives from psychological and behavioral theory with the foundation that the two

components of health-related behavior are 1) the desire to avoid illness, or conversely get well if

already ill; and, 2) the belief that a specific health action will prevent, or cure, illness. Ultimately, an

individual's course of action often depends on the person's perceptions of the benefits and barriers

related to health behavior.

Literature Survey

Injuries cause 10% of the mortality and 15% of disability worldwide. However, there is a

paucity of data on injuries in the developing world where two-thirds of all injury deaths occur. This

is the first published report characterizing the overall problem of injuries in the Philippines, a

developing country in south East Asia. This report defines the burden of injuries in the Philippines

and identifies priority areas for the national health research agenda. A systematic review of 35 years

of published and unpublished data on injuries in the Philippines (1960-1995) was conducted. Injury

fatality rates increased by 196% from 14.3 per 100,000 in 1960 to 42.3 per 100,000 in 1995, and one

in 11 deaths in the Philippines are due to injuries. Intentional injuries account for 48% of all injury

deaths and motor vehicle crashes for 15%. For 15-44 year old males, injuries account for 42% of all

deaths, 67% of which are intentional. The proportion of all deaths attributable to intentional injuries

has increased by 925% and that of motor vehicle crashes by 600% from 1960 to 1995. Improvements

in injury surveillance and documentation of non-fatal injury outcomes are needed. Research into risk

factors and potential interventions for the prevention of intentional injuries should be a priority in the
Philippines.

(https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8362713_The_burden_of_injuries_in_the_Philippines_Im

plications_for_national_research_policy)

. According to recent study about the attitudes of the teachers toward first aid. One

hundred and ninety-four teachers participated in the study with a response rate of 95%. Only 40% of

the teachers were knowledgeable and 75% of them had positive attitude for first aid. Eighty percent

of teachers encountered with children in need of first aid. Kindergarten teachers older than 35 years

[AOR = 4.2, 95%CI: (1.02, 16.9)], five years’ experience [AOR = 3.1, 95%CI: (1.2, 7.6)], having

previous first aid training [AOR = 3.1, 95%CI: (1.2, 7.7)], source of first aid information and

teachers serving in private kindergarten are associated with having knowledge of first aid. Long time

experience, type of kindergarten, previous training, and exposure to children in need of first aid were

positive association with attitude towards first aid. (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0194263).

According to the International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Semwal J

et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2017 Aug, 4(8):2934-2938. Out of 441 students,

proportion of boys and girls were 224:217. Majority (91%) had heard about the first aid of which the

proportion of boys & girls were almost similar i.e. 92: 92.2. Among these students, only 17% had

complete knowledge of first aid and partial knowledge was found in 33.3% of students. Regarding

first aid kit, 87.5% of students have heard about the kit of which the proportion of boys and girls was

86.6: 88.5. Only 51% had complete knowledge of contents of first aid kit. Out of these 23.1% had

adequate knowledge i. e. when where and how it is to be used 55.8% of students have ever used it.

On an average complete knowledge and partial knowledge was present only in 0.04 and 0.06

respectively. Students in our study have revealed that first aid study is in the curriculum of the course

but it seems from the study that practically no stress is being given in imparting knowledge regarding

first aid in these schools.

 According to Grimaldi and Simonds (2003) that the history of safety is full of records of

specialist who knew where most of the injury of the victims is caused but the management couldn’t

eliminate the cause of the problem. According to Vicino Joe, (2006), New teachers and staffs of

schools don’t have the right training or management on how to avoid injuries. This creates a concern

that the teachers may not be aware of first aid and safety procedures and if maybe they are aware,

then they may not be practiced within the premises that the school end up being hazardous to the

students. (Lindoe, 1997) Many countries have adopted policies on safety at school including Norway

and Sweden where they demonstrate that safety at work is vital in order to minimize the injuries that

can happen to the pupils and staff. This introduce us to the importance of ensuring policies are put in

place and preventive measures taken into consideration. According to Bamford (1995) school injuries

do not receive appropriate treatment and care. Packard, (1989) –Workers themselves may also be

unwilling to expose health problems in the situation of high job insecurity, informal employment,

and high labor turnover, factors exacerbated by employment patterns created by globalization.

According to Loewenson, (1998), with insecure employment, particularly in small enterprises,

accidents are like to go undetected and workers with severe disability will be dropped out of work.

Significance of the study

Assessing teacher’s awareness, attitude and practices skills of first aid is not widely embraced

by many other schools.

Because of this matter, the results of this study will be beneficial to the following:
Mapeh Teachers. This study may provide you to administer basic knowledge on how to perform first

aid and determine the right procedure on different kinds of injury. Even if some are outdated of this

guidelines, this can still be used to prevent injury.

Future Researchers. This study can help you to create new research to expand the topic and other

phrases of awareness, attitudes and practices of first aid among primary school teachers.

Definition of terms

For the readers to further understand this study, the following terms are defined.

Awareness- knowledge or perception of a situation or fact.

Attitude- a settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is

reflected in a person's behavior.

Practice- the actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method as opposed to theories about such

application or use.

First aid- help given to a sick or injured person until full medical treatment is available.

3P’s- Three major goals of first aid. Preserve life, Prevent further injury, Promote recovery.

Injury- an instance of being injured.

Accident- an unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting

in damage or injury.

HBM- Health Belief Model.

Scope and limitation of the study

The researcher aimed only for the grade 6 teachers, staff and proprietors of Dalahican

Elementary School.

This study will be limited to the awareness, attitude and practices of first aid of grade 6

teachers or any staff working in primary schools.

Statement of desired outcomes

To determine the demographic profile of the respondents.

Teacher-Respondents in terms of:

- Gender;

- Age;

- School;

- Length of Teaching Service;

To determine awareness, attitudes and practices of school teachers and the facilities available at

schools with respect to administration of first aid.

To determine the situation requiring first aid and pattern of various medical emergencies commonly

encountered in schools.
 B. Description of methods or approach

Research Design

The study is a descriptive-quantitative research. As a descriptive quantitative research,

the study aims to state the level of knowledge in applying first aid by conducting an examination

among teacher-respondents. As a descriptive-quantitative research, gathering data can be achieved

with or without statistical treatment.

Research Instrument

For the teacher-respondents, the researcher used a questionnaire to gather information

about the awareness, attitudes and practices of first aid. The questionnaire was consisted of a

demographic information, awareness question and prevention statements. .

On the other hand, a survey instrument was also made for the staff-respondents. This

survey would help confirm the awareness, attitudes and practices of first aid based on the staffs’

perspectives and experiences.

Data gathering procedures

The conduction of the study will be limited for one week. The researcher will first

obtain the total number of grade 6 teacher respondents before the analyzing of the data. Then the

respondents will be given a questionnaire. Then the result of the data gathered are then analyze and

interpreted according to different problems set forth.

Respondents/Unit of Analysis/Subject of the Study

The study will be conducted in Dalahican Elementary School. The respondents were

the grade 6 teachers with a population.

Sampling Design and Procedures

The respondents were the teachers and of Dalahican Elementary School, Lucena City,

Quezon. Since the population of grade 6 teachers in Dalahican Elementary School are few all of the

respondents will be participating the study.

Assumption or Hypothesis

Assumptions are:

Teachers will be available to fill in questionnaires and be interviewed despite their

tight schedules. and not all of the respondents will participate in the study.

Data Analysis Plan

All the data that were collected, coded, tabulated and subjected to be statistically

analyzed. Microsoft office Excel is used for data handling and graphical presentation. Quantitative

variables are described by the Mean, Standard Deviation (SD), while qualitative categorical variables

are described by proportions and percentages. Descriptive statistics will be used to analyze the

response to individual items and the respondents' characteristics. Chi-square and P- value test used.

Linear coefficient correlation was used to examine the correlation between awareness and practices

total scores.
Research Paradigm

Input
Process

 Giving the teacher

Output
Input the survey
instrument  Data gathered
 Teacher Respondents regarding
(Gender, Age, Years  Determining the
awareness,
of teaching.) level of awareness
attitudes and
and practices of the
Questionnaire- practices of first
respondents
Opinionnaire. aid among grade 6
 Analyzing and teachers
interpreting the data
collected.

The figure shows the IPO model of the research entitled “Awareness, attitude and practices

of first aid among grade 6 teachers in Dalahican Elementary School. The input includes the Teacher

respondent’s gender, age, and years of teaching. The process includes the giving of survey instrument

to the teacher respondents, determining the level of awareness, attitude and practices of the

respondents and analyzing and interpreting the data that was collected from the survey instrument.

The output includes the data that was gathered regarding to the awareness, attitudes and practices of

first aid among grade 6 teachers.

 References

Wayne W. LaMorte, MD, PhD, MPH, Boston University School of Public Health (August 29, 2018.)

http://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-

Modules/SB/BehavioralChangeTheories/BehavioralChangeTheories2.html

Rural Health Information Hub (2002–2018) Health Belief Model retrieved from

https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/toolkits/health-promotion/2/theories-and-models/health-belief

Robert T. Croyle, Ph.D. (2005) Theory at a Glance “A Guide for Health Promotion Practice”

(Second Edition) http://www.sbccimplementationkits.org/demandrmnch/wp-

content/uploads/2014/02/Theory-at-a-Glance-A-Guide-For-Health-Promotion-Practice.pdf