Community First Aid Training for Disaster Preparedness: A Review of Education Content

Abstract

Disasters pose a substantial risk to people’s health and well-being on a global scale. Community-based training on the initial response to traffic accidents has a considerable impact on reducing morbidity and mortality. There is no information on the most effective type of community-based training for such incidents or on how to integrate this into disaster response. The goal of this study was to characterize the content of first aid training and its effect on providing assistance during a disaster. The MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were searched. The terms ”basic life support” OR ”bleed control” OR ”cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)” OR ”first aid” AND ”bystander” OR ”layperson” OR ”public” were used. We chose the general public as our sample. We included only publications that were available in English and published between January 2000 and September 2021 due to time and resource constraints. Four of the included studies were conducted in the United States and one in Indonesia. The sample size ranged from 24 to 465 members of the general public or bystanders. Community members gained increased knowledge and abilities regarding disaster preparedness strategies and procedures. The first aid training content focused on prehospital trauma care, including training on the ABCs, dealing with disasters in the community, calling for help, identifying the location of life-threatening bleeding and applying pressure, and packing a wound and applying a tourniquet for bleeding control. A training program emphasizing both first aid methods and inhibitors of behaviors to help in an emergency was found to be significantly associated with increased rates of assistance during emergency situations. Keywords: community first aid, training, disaster preparedness, review