The topic of Castro’s (2010) thesis is “Assessment of First Aid Knowledge and Decision Making of Coaches of Youth Soccer.” The main objective of research is to evaluate the first aid knowledge of youth soccer coaches and their decision-making approaches in speculative athletic situations incorporating competition and injured players. The author seeks to find answers to the following research questions in the thesis:
- Are the coaches having first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) certification likely to pass the First Aid Assessment more successfully than those without such certification?
- Do professionals with over two years of experience in training demonstrate better results in the First Aid Assessment test than those that have worked for less than two years?
- Does the tendency to return an injured player to the field depend on the number of years of coaching experience?
- Is there an interdependence between CPR and first aid certification and the level of the coach’s education?
- Do the First Aid Assessment scores differ depending on the trainer’s educational background?
The participants of the study were youth soccer coaches recruited from District-II of the California Youth Soccer Association (CYSA-N) (Castro, 2010). Data were collected via participation in a survey that was preceded by the explanation of the study and the obtaining of consent. Each coach taking part in the study was required to complete the First Aid Assessment test, the game situation data sheet, and the demographic information sheet. Out of the initial 149 respondents, 114 passed the First Aid Assessment test, 112 completed the Game Situation Data Sheet, and 109 filled out the demographic information sheet. Out of 109 participants remaining, twenty-four were female, and eighty-five were male. The mean coaching experience duration was 8.89 (SD = 7.02), the range being between one and thirty years. Thirty-one trainer reported being certified in first aid, and twenty-four were certified in CPR.
The study took place on the Internet with the use of respondents’ emails and www.surveymonkey.com website. The recruitment was performed via email, and the responses were collected on the website. Apart from the test and two sheets that coaches were asked to fill out, they received a cover letter and the consent form. Within a fortnight following the follow-up email, data were gathered and processed. No other surveys were admitted for the study after that point. The analysis of data was performed with the use of Microsoft® Excel® 2007 (Castro, 2010). For the interpretation of the First Aid Assessment test and the evaluation of demographic information, descriptive statistics were employed. To establish the interrelationship between the years of work and success in the First Aid Assessment test, a Pearson Product Correlation was used. To find out the likelihood of coaches’ returning an injured player based on their years of experience, a Chi-squared analysis was exploited. Finally, the ANOVA test was applied to discover whether having a higher education had a positive effect on passing the First Aid Assessment test.
The results of the study indicate that certification does not enhance one’s score in the First Aid Assessment test. Castro (2010) concludes that without practice, first aid skills are quickly forgotten, and the coach will not be able to apply them when needed. These findings are significant for my work since they emphasize the need for school teachers to be trained in first aid (Bashir & Bakarman, 2014; Behairy & Al-Batanony, 2016; Hammett, 2016). Research carried out by Castro (2010) proves that teachers’, as well as coaches’, knowledge of first aid is a crucial prerequisite of keeping schoolchildren’s health under control.
References
Bashir, S. M., & Bakarman, M. A. (2014). Are our children in safe hands? Evaluating the preparedness of primary school staff in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in responding to health related emergencies. Life Science Journal, 11(11), 986-989.
Behairy, S. A., & Al-Batanony, M. A. (2016). Effectiveness of first-aid and basic life support intervention program on school health advisors. Journal of Health, Medicine and Nursing, 24, 136-144.
Castro, L. (2010). Assessment of First Aid Knowledge and Decision Making of Coaches of Youth Soccer.
Hammett, E. (2016). Fulfilling the first aid requirements in schools. British Journal of School Nursing, 11(7), 328-330.