Effect of Home Accidents Prevention and First aids Training Program on Elderly Caregivers' Knowledge and Practices

Background: Safety is a major concern when providing care for elderly as they are
more susceptible to accidents and injuries than younger adults, So most home injuries can
be prevented through elderly caregivers training regarding home safety measures and first
aids practices. Aim: Evaluate the effect of home accidents prevention and first aids training
program on elderly caregivers' knowledge and practices. Design: A Quasi- Experimental
design (one group pre/post design) will be used in this study. Setting: The study was carried
out at Geriatric Outpatient Clinics in the Specialized Medical Hospital that affiliated to
Mansoura University and in General Hospital that affiliated to the Ministry of health at
Mansoura City. Subjects: This study was carried out on 50 elderly caregivers whose
selected from the previously mentioned setting Tools: Three tools were used in this study;
Elderly caregivers' demographic data structured interview schedule, Elderly caregivers'
home accidents prevention and first aids knowledge structured interview schedule and
Elderly caregivers' first aids practices observational checklist Results: The study revealed
that, about half of elderly caregivers fluctuated from 30 to less than 45 years, with the mean
age of 39.60 ± 10.95 years and female were constituted four fifth of them. Moreover,
significant improvement in elderly caregivers total knowledge scores regarding home
accident prevention and first aids and in total practices scores regarding first aids in dealing
with both fainting, fracture, bleeding ,wound , electrical accidents ,poisoning, choking, gas
suffocation and burn were detected after implementation of the training program (P=0.000).
Conclusion: The developed home accidents prevention and first aids training program
proved to be effective in improving knowledge and practices of elderly caregivers.
Recommendations: The developed home accidents prevention and first aids booklet should
be distributed to all elderly caregivers attending geriatric outpatient clinics at Mansoura city
through the responsible personal to raise their knowledge and practices.