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Awareness, attitude and perceived knowledge regarding First Aid in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: A cross-sectional household survey
INTRODUCTION: Emergency care can potentially address half of deaths and one-third of disability in low-and-middle income countries. First Aid (FA) is at the core of out-of-hospital emergency care and is crucial to empower laypersons to preserve life, alleviate suffering and improve emergency respons...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
African Federation for Emergency Medicine
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8980329/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35415070 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.afjem.2022.03.001 |
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author | Diango, Ken Yangongo, John Sistenich, Vera Mafuta, Eric Wallis, Lee |
author_facet | Diango, Ken Yangongo, John Sistenich, Vera Mafuta, Eric Wallis, Lee |
author_sort | Diango, Ken |
collection | PubMed |
description | INTRODUCTION: Emergency care can potentially address half of deaths and one-third of disability in low-and-middle income countries. First Aid (FA) is at the core of out-of-hospital emergency care and is crucial to empower laypersons to preserve life, alleviate suffering and improve emergency response and outcomes. This study aimed to gauge FA awareness, the attitude and perceived knowledge in households in the low socioeconomic setting of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). METHODS: We undertook a cross-sectional community-based household survey in twelve health zones in Kinshasa. A three-stage randomised cluster sampling was used to identify 1217 households. The head of each household or an adult representative answered on behalf of himself/herself and the household. The primary outcome was FA awareness, attitude and perceived knowledge. RESULTS: Most households had a poor socio-economic background, with 70.0% living on <US$100 per person per month. Most respondents received formal education (98.4%), with 37.6% reaching the tertiary level. The majority (77.6%) believed that an emergency requiring FA was likely to happen in their household. There was a noticeable contrast between awareness (90.0% asserted that FA knowledge is a necessity) and positive attitude regarding FA (91.3% believed that FA increases wellbeing and survival) on one hand, and the insignificant rate of FA training (0.2%) on the other. Most (83.6%) acknowledged they did not think they had the required basic FA knowledge and skills for five selected common life-threatening emergencies. The age, area of residence and level of education of participants played a variable role regarding FA awareness, attitude and knowledge. CONCLUSION: Most participants reported inadequate knowledge of FA despite awareness and a positive attitude. Context-appropriate training programs are greatly needed to empower Kinshasa's communities and equip them with lifesaving skills. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8980329 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | African Federation for Emergency Medicine |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-89803292022-04-11 Awareness, attitude and perceived knowledge regarding First Aid in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: A cross-sectional household survey Diango, Ken Yangongo, John Sistenich, Vera Mafuta, Eric Wallis, Lee Afr J Emerg Med Original Article INTRODUCTION: Emergency care can potentially address half of deaths and one-third of disability in low-and-middle income countries. First Aid (FA) is at the core of out-of-hospital emergency care and is crucial to empower laypersons to preserve life, alleviate suffering and improve emergency response and outcomes. This study aimed to gauge FA awareness, the attitude and perceived knowledge in households in the low socioeconomic setting of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). METHODS: We undertook a cross-sectional community-based household survey in twelve health zones in Kinshasa. A three-stage randomised cluster sampling was used to identify 1217 households. The head of each household or an adult representative answered on behalf of himself/herself and the household. The primary outcome was FA awareness, attitude and perceived knowledge. RESULTS: Most households had a poor socio-economic background, with 70.0% living on <US$100 per person per month. Most respondents received formal education (98.4%), with 37.6% reaching the tertiary level. The majority (77.6%) believed that an emergency requiring FA was likely to happen in their household. There was a noticeable contrast between awareness (90.0% asserted that FA knowledge is a necessity) and positive attitude regarding FA (91.3% believed that FA increases wellbeing and survival) on one hand, and the insignificant rate of FA training (0.2%) on the other. Most (83.6%) acknowledged they did not think they had the required basic FA knowledge and skills for five selected common life-threatening emergencies. The age, area of residence and level of education of participants played a variable role regarding FA awareness, attitude and knowledge. CONCLUSION: Most participants reported inadequate knowledge of FA despite awareness and a positive attitude. Context-appropriate training programs are greatly needed to empower Kinshasa's communities and equip them with lifesaving skills. African Federation for Emergency Medicine 2022-06 2022-04-03 /pmc/articles/PMC8980329/ /pubmed/35415070 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.afjem.2022.03.001 Text en © 2022 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of African Federation for Emergency Medicine. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Original Article Diango, Ken Yangongo, John Sistenich, Vera Mafuta, Eric Wallis, Lee Awareness, attitude and perceived knowledge regarding First Aid in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: A cross-sectional household survey |
title | Awareness, attitude and perceived knowledge regarding First Aid in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: A cross-sectional household survey |
title_full | Awareness, attitude and perceived knowledge regarding First Aid in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: A cross-sectional household survey |
title_fullStr | Awareness, attitude and perceived knowledge regarding First Aid in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: A cross-sectional household survey |
title_full_unstemmed | Awareness, attitude and perceived knowledge regarding First Aid in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: A cross-sectional household survey |
title_short | Awareness, attitude and perceived knowledge regarding First Aid in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: A cross-sectional household survey |
title_sort | awareness, attitude and perceived knowledge regarding first aid in kinshasa, democratic republic of congo: a cross-sectional household survey |
topic | Original Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8980329/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35415070 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.afjem.2022.03.001 |
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