Multimedia First Aid Program for Families

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for children and infants under 14 years of age. Many of these deaths are preventable not only by prevention behaviors such as installing safety gates and using car seats effectively but also by administering prompt and effective emergency first aid techniques until advanced care arrives. While programs such as the American Red Cross offer instructor-led courses for families to obtain these skills, many motivated parents, guardians and other caregivers are unable to attend these classes due to difficulties in obtaining and scheduling childcare and transportation. Thus, many families have no first aid skills or rely on folk remedies or television to provide first aid instruction. Additionally, retention of first aid skills is poor and frequent skill reviews are essential to optimizing performance should these skills be needed. In order to reach this underserved population and boost retention of skills, programs are needed that allow families to learn skills on their own schedules, and review pertinent materials when needed. This project proposes to create a multimedia first aid training program for families that can be viewed in Internet/Intranet, CD-ROM or DVD-ROM formats. The program would cover such basics as pediatric life support (relief of foreign body airway obstruction, rescue breathing and CPR), controlling bleeding and shock, managing burns and other first aid emergencies. This program would train families in emergency response techniques that could potentially save lives and reduce the severity of outcome of childhood injuries. In Phase I, a prototype Internet-based program will be developed for families of children of infants under one- year old. The program will cover Basic Life Support (BLS) skills as set forth by the American Heart Association: (a) foreign body airway relief, (b) rescue breathing, and (c) CPR. The efficacy of the Phase I program will be tested in a randomized controlled trial with 90 parents of children less than one-year old. Subjects will be randomly assigned to receive one of the following training interventions: IMM program, in-person training, or written materials. In Phase II the program will be expanded to include three age groups (i.e., less than 1, 1-8 years, and 9-12 years) and cover both CPR and first aid skills. A randomized trial will evaluate the efficacy of the expanded Phase II program. Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for children under 14 years of age. While preventive steps can be taken to safeguard children from injury, there is a remaining need for appropriate first aid skills when an accident occurs. This project is an attempt to make simple and accurate first aid training available to a broad range of people, so that if an accident occurs, families can potentially reduce the extent of an injury or even protect their children from death.