Self-confidence in the management of health complications at school: contributions of the in situ simulation

OBJECTIVE: to analyze the contributions of the in situ simulation in the self-confidence of early childhood and elementary education teachers regarding the initial management of health complications in school. METHOD: this is a pre-post testing quasi-experimental study. Two pre and post in situ simulation instruments were applied to 76 teachers, namely: visual analogue scale of teachers’ self-confidence in the management of health complications at school, and a questionnaire to assess their knowledge on the subject. The educational activity was composed of four scenarios of in situ simulation. The data were analyzed by descriptive and analytical statistics using univariate and multivariate linear regression. RESULTS: the comparison of results of pre and post in situ simulation self-confidence identified promotion of self-confidence (p<0.001), especially for those teachers with less professional experience (p=0.008), without previous similar experience (p=0.003) and who actively participated in the simulation (p=0.009). CONCLUSION: the teachers feel uncomfortable to handle health complications. The in situ simulation elevated the perception of self-confidence among teachers.