Study on the impact of first aid training through blended learning in adult laypeople in Rwanda
08/09/23
This summer, CEBaP together with the International Cooperation Department of the Belgian Red Cross and Rwanda Red Cross Society jointly launched a study to measure the impact of a first aid training course using a blended learning approach. This approach combines self-study with the in-house developed mobile FABL (First Aid Blended Learning) application and a short classroom lesson. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the impact of first aid blended learning training on the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and helping behaviour of adult laypeople in the African context.
A total of 540 adult laypeople with no academic or professional medical background, nor any prior knowledge of first aid, will be selected in Rwanda. They are randomly divided into 1 of 3 groups: the traditional basic first aid training with face-to-face approach (BFA), the innovative first aid training with blended learning approach (FABL), or the no training group.
In the traditional BFA training, participants attend a 3-day classroom-based basic first aid training with a certified first aid trainer from the Rwanda Red Cross Society. Participants in the innovative FABL training will first learn first aid theory independently through the FABL app and then be invited to a 1-day classroom-based first aid training with practical exercises once again given by a certified first aid trainer from the Rwanda Red Cross Society. The participants without training serve as a control group. They will be put on a waiting list and will still receive a first aid training after completion of the study.
First aid-related knowledge, skills, attitudes, and helping behaviour will be measured in all participants at 3 time points: before, just after, and 6 months after providing the first aid trainings. In this way, we aim to assess whether a change in first aid knowledge, skills, attitudes, and helping behaviour occurs over time and whether it differs according to the intervention group the participants are in.
Want to know more about this study? The detailed study protocol can be found via the international study registries of ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT06003504) and Pan-African Clinical Trials Registry (PACTR202308560830554).
