The development and feasibility testing of a school-based burns prevention and first-aid intervention: Learn about burns

School-aged children are susceptible to burn injuries and have little knowledge of the correct first-aid to apply when injuries occur. Currently, no school-based intervention which targets both burn prevention and first-aid to meet national guidelines exists. To address this gap a school-based burns prevention and first-aid intervention was developed, and feasibility tested following the Medical Research Council guidelines on the development and evaluation of complex interventions. A systematic review on what interventions work in the prevention of unintentional injuries for school-aged children was conducted. Results highlighted a dearth in high quality evaluations of interventions, and the need for appropriate development studies of interventions prior to evaluation for effectiveness. A cross-sectional epidemiological study assessed the patterns of burns for school-aged children. Results identified the target agegroup, agents and mechanisms to address and showed that few children received appropriate first-aid. Results from these studies were used, alongside educational and logic modelling theory, to develop the Learn About Burns intervention. The intervention was feasibility tested in six schools in the Cardiff Local Education Authority. Results from the feasibility study suggest the intervention was feasible and acceptable and wider scale piloting should take place following intervention refinement. Qualitative data indicated that students and teachers thought the intervention was enjoyable and engaging for students and integrated with the curriculum and classroom timetable. Quantitative results suggest that the intervention increased student burn prevention and first-aid knowledge, student attitude and self-efficacy towards burn prevention and providing burns first-aid and increased appropriate safety practices – these increases were sustained over six months. This thesis makes important contributions to knowledge in the field of burn prevention research. It highlights the need to improve quality of the development of valuations and provides a feasible and acceptable school-based intervention to prevent burns and promote the application of first aid.