Supervisors info:
Κ. Καρτερολιώτης, Καθηγητής του Εθνικού και Καποδιστριακού Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών
Μ. Κοσκολού, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια του Εθνικού και Καποδιστριακού Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών
Ν. Σταύρου, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής του Εθνικού και Καποδιστριακού Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών
Summary:
The purpose of this study was to build a valid and reliable instrument to measure the cognitive readiness of Physical Education Teachers (P.E) to deal with emergency incidents happening at schools. Further aims of the study were to examine: (a) the percentage of P.E teachers who are aware of the confrontation of emergency incidents (b) the level of competence of the school, with regard to the ability to provide appropriate infrastructure in order to deal with such incidents, (c) the relationship of age, gender and educational level of P.E teachers regarding the sufficiency of knowledge, in dealing with emergency incidents and (d) the percentage of wishfulness expressed by the teachers, for further education in first aid training.
The total sample consisted of 161 P.E teachers (85 men and 76 women), with an average age of 51.83 years (SD = 5.20), serving in public schools in Attica region. The participants completed a two-part questionnaire. The main part of the measuring instrument consisted of the questions that evaluated the cognitive readiness of the physical education teachers in order to address emergencies. The measuring instrument included questions concerning the demographic characteristics of the participants as well as questions regarding the level of prior training of P.E teachers in first aid assistance. Participants also completed the Social Desirability Scale as part of the validation process of the pending to be developed measuring instrument.
The basic statistical procedures for the examination of the validity of the questionnaire included: (a) exploratory factorial analysis, (b) confirmatory factorial analysis, (c) group difference method. For the examination of the reliability of the questionnaire, the Cronbach alpha internal consistency coefficient was used.
Based on the results of the exploratory analyses, the existence of five factors was supported and the questions in the questionnaire were grouped into five factors such as "spraying treatment," fracture treatment, "cardiac arrest confrontation", "treating hemorrhage" and "improving first aid knowledge". The results of the confirmatory factorial analysis, through the goodness of fit indices (NNFI, CFI, RMSEA), supported the use of the five factors’ model that it was initially found in the exploratory factorial analysis. Cronbach's α internal consistency coefficient , supported the reliability of the questionnaire’s factors with values ranging above 0.85. According to the findings of this study, gender and age of the P.E teachers do not have a statistically significant difference, regarding their knowledge in first aid. Contrariwise, the prior training of P.E, positively affects their management in cases of emergency, where the positive element is the fact that there is a strong desire from the teachers for further training. The importance of the continuous improvement and training of the P.E. teachers is reinforced by the increased frequency of wrong answers as the severity of the incidents they had to cope with increased significantly. Finally, according to the participants' answers, the incidents that they encounter most often involve cases of sprains, fractures and bleeding and fewer cardiac arrests.
According to the findings of this research, the gender and age of the P.E teachers do not have a statistically significant difference, regarding their knowledge in first aid. Contrariwise, the prior training of P.E teachers, positively affects their management in cases of emergency, where the positive element is the fact that there is a strong desire from the professors for further training. The importance of the continuous improvement and training of the physical education teachers is reinforced by the increased frequency of wrong answers as the severity of the incidents they had to cope with increased significantly. Finally, according to the participants' answers, the incidents that they encounter most often involve cases of sprains, fractures and bleeding and fewer cardiac arrests.
The results showed that the questionnaire has good psychometric properties, in terms of measuring its validity and reliability, and therefore it seems to be appropriate for evaluating the cognitive readiness of P.E teachers, regarding the confrontation of emergency incidents at schools.
