Determining the mothers’ first-aid self-efficacy in-home accidents in Turkey

Aim: This study aims to determine the first-aid self-efficacy of mothers with children aged 0-4 years. Methods: This descriptive study is conducted in a university hospital in Ankara, Turkey with 403 mothers who have children aged 0-4 years. The questionnaire method has been used to collect data in the study. The questionnaire consists of two parts. In the first part of it ‘‘the socio-demographic characteristics form’’ and in the second part of it ‘‘the first-aid self-efficacy scale’’, which is used to determine the mothers’ first-aid self-efficacy, were included. The analysis of the research data is performed with SPSS statistical program. Results: The age range of the participants in the study is 19-46 years and the mean age is 29.41±7.40 years. 46.2% of the mothers are 19-28 years old, 93.3% are married, 39.2% are graduated from high school, and 54.8% are housewives. 86.3% of the mothers state that they have not had the first-aid training and 42.9% of them state that they have encountered a situation requiring the first-aid resulting mostly (60.1%) in an injury. The mean score of the scale is 30.90±9.50. Conclusions: In our study, it is found that the first-aid self-efficacy of mothers is low. The mothers with an undergraduate degree have higher first-aid self-efficacy than the ones who graduated from a primary school and those who had the first-aid training have higher first-aid self-efficacy than the ones who did not receive the first-aid training. To increase the first-aid self-efficacy of mothers, the first-aid trainings should be organized by public/private health institutions and non-governmental organizations, practices should be made on models and repeated periodically. It is suggested that more centers and fathers to be included in these trainings in the future.