ABSTRACT
Background: Increasing the number of qualified people, including school students who can play a significant role in first-aid (FA) and basic life support (BLS) arena is a public health demand. Aim: To assess the awareness of Saudi secondary school students regarding FA and BLS. Methodology: 360 male secondary school children in Taif, Saudi Arabia were surveyed. Results: The mean students’ age was 17.4 ± 1.21 years. The mean participants’ FA knowledge score was 64.8% ± 11%. Generally, trained students reported both better FA knowledge and skills than untrained counter-parts; for 79.6% trained-compared to 53.7% untrained-students recorded such score > 70% [χ2 (df 1) = 11.60, p < 0.001]. The younger the age was, the higher opportunity to record a high score (>70%) [62.3% <17 y vs. 49.3% ≥17 y, χ2(df 1) = 5.90, p = 0.02] was. Trained students better deal with critical cases, bleeding and bodily injury compared to untrained peers [89.8% vs. 55.9%, χ2 (df 1) = 20.3, p < 0.001; 83.7% vs. 58.2%, χ2 (df 1) = 11.62, p = 0.04; 81.6% vs. 67.2%, χ2 (df 1) = 4.13, p = 0.04, respectively]. Only 37.2% of schools had FA incorporated in the education curriculum. Eventually, FA training and the presence of FA group were significant predictors for improved FA knowledge among students [odds ratio (OR) 3.35, 95% CI 1.60 - 7.06; OR 2.28, 95% CI 1.34 - 3.95, respectively). Conclusions: First-aid training is crucial to enhance school children’s FA skills and to thrust their contribution to health emergency control efforts. Incorporating FA training within the educational curriculum of Saudi schools is a step forward to disseminate FA message in the community.