EFFECT OF FIRST AID EDUCATION ON THE CAPACITY OF COMMERCIAL DRIVERS PLYING THE LAGOS – IBADAN EXPRESSWAY TO PROVIDE FIRST AID FOR ACCIDENT VICTIMS.

EFFECT OF FIRST AID EDUCATION ON THE CAPACITY OF COMMERCIAL DRIVERS PLYING THE LAGOS – IBADAN EXPRESSWAY TO PROVIDE FIRST AID FOR ACCIDENT VICTIMS.

Abstract

Introduction: Majority of road traffic deaths in low and middle income countries and about 50% of trauma deaths in high income countries have been documented to occur in the pre-hospital phase.
The study was conducted to determine the effect of first aid education on the capacity of commercial drivers plying the Lagos-Ibadan expressway to provide first aid for accident victims.
Methodology: A before-and–after study was conducted in three phases using qualitative (in-depth interviews) and quantitative research methods. A total of 128 drivers – 62 in the intervention and 66 in the control group were selected for the quantitative aspect using a multi-stage sampling technique. The overall attrition rate was 0.8%. In the first phase, an in-depth interview guide was used to obtain information from 25 drivers and a semi-structured interviewer administered questionnaire used to obtain information on socio-demographic characteristics, road safety and first aid knowledge and attitudes as well as self-reported practices of road safety measures from the intervention and control drivers. The intervention (phase II) consisted of a 2-day training workshop on provision of first aid for accident victims for the drivers in the intervention group. Drivers in the control group were given health education on HIV/AIDS and the workplace. Phase III involved repeated measures of selected outcomes – road safety knowledge, and first aid knowledge and skills immediately after the training and 3-months after the training. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 11) package. Frequencies were generated and appropriate statistical tests used to test associations. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05. Respondents’ road safety knowledge was scored and minimum and maximum obtainable road safety knowledge scores were 0 and 18 respectively. First aid knowledge scores were generated giving a maximum aggregate score of 24 for each respondent while the minimum and maximum obtainable scores for first aid skills were 0 and 25 respectively.
Results: The 25 drivers who participated in the in-depth interviews had a good attitude to road safety and first aid. All of them had rendered assistance to road crash victims in the past. Some had gotten into trouble with the police after assisting road crash victims. The mean age of respondents from the intervention group was 42.7 (± 8.7) years compared to a mean age of 44.7 (± 9.22) years among those in the control group (p = 0.236). The mean road safety knowledge score for those in the intervention group was 13.7 (± 2.0) compared to a mean of 13.6 (± 2.1) in the control group (p = 0.778). This difference was not statistically significant. The majority of respondents had a favourable attitude to road safety and first aid. There was no significant difference in the mean first aid knowledge scores of the intervention (11.8 ± 2.9) and control respondents (11.6 ± 3.1) at baseline (p = 0.752). In addition, there was no significant difference in mean first aid scores in the intervention (4.4 ± 0.9) and control groups (4.1 ± 1.1) (p = 0.176).
Following the intervention, there was a statistically significant difference in mean road safety knowledge scores between the intervention, (14.6 ± 2.1) and control drivers (13.5 ± 2.6) at the immediate post intervention phase (p = 0.010). The difference in road safety knowledge was sustained to the 3rd month post intervention (14.4 ± 2.1) for the intervention and 13.9 ± 2.6) for controls (p = 0.173; not significant). At the immediate post-intervention phase, intervention drivers had a mean first aid knowledge score of 13.9 (±2.7) compared with a mean score of 9.4 (±3.7) in the controls (p = 0.000; statistically significant). Also at the 3-month post intervention survey, intervention drivers had a mean of 14.4 (±2.) compared with 11.2 (±3.7) in the control group. This difference was also significant at p = 0.000.
Mean first aid skill scores among the intervention group were 4.4 (± 0.9), 20.2 (±2.1) and 18.1 (± 4.2) respectively at baseline, immediate and 3-month post intervention phases. Corresponding scores for the control group were 4.1 (± 1.1), 4.1 (± 1.2) and 5.1 (± 2.3) respectively. Independent t-tests showed a significant difference in mean scores between intervention and control drivers at the immediate (p = 0.000) and 3-month post intervention phases (p = 0.000). Repeated measure analysis of variance showed significant differences in first aid knowledge and first aid skills within the intervention group over the three phases of the study (p = 0.000).
Conclusion and recommendations: The study revealed that drivers frequently rendered assistance to accident victims. They also had a favourable attitude to road safety and first aid. The first aid education led to a significant improvement in the road safety knowledge, first aid knowledge and first aid skills of those in the intervention group. It is recommended that road safety professionals and policy makers should exploit this pool of potential first responders by developing programmes to teach commercial drivers first aid skills in order to improve their capacity to assist road crash victims. In addition, government and policy makers should empower them to utilize the skills by instituting policies which protect them from harassment by law enforcement agents after rendering assistance to accident victims.

Title Page———i

Certification——–ii

Dedication———iii

Acknowledgement——-iv

Abstract ———vi

Table of Content——–vii

Chapter One

1.0 Introduction ——-1

1.1 Statement of Problem——4

1.2 Purpose of the Study——5

1.3 Significance of Study——8

1.4 Limitation——–9

1.5 Scope of Study——-11

Chapter Two

2.0 Review of Related Literature —-12

2.6 Summary of Literature Review—- 19

Chapter Three

3.0 Research Methodology and Procedure—22

3.1 Population ——–22

3.2 Sample and Sampling Technique—-22

3.3 Validation of the Instrument —-23

3.4 Reliability of the Instrument —–23

3.5 Data Analysis——-23

Chapter Four

4.0 Presentation and Discussion of Result—24

4.1 Analysis and interpretaion of Data—25

4.2 Discussion of Results——38

Chapter Five

5.0. Summary, Conclusion, and Recommendation  –40

5.1 Summary——–40

5.2 Conclusion——–41

5.3 Recommendation——42

References ———45

Appendix 1——–47

Appendix ———50

EFFECT OF FIRST AID EDUCATION ON THE CAPACITY OF COMMERCIAL DRIVERS PLYING THE LAGOS – IBADAN EXPRESSWAY TO PROVIDE FIRST AID FOR ACCIDENT VICTIMS.