The first aid knowledge of the mothers having children at age 0-14 and the frequency of the situations requering first aid in Çankırı-Eldivan district center

90- ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of accidents and the first aid knowledge of mothers in households with children aged 0-14 years in Eldivan, a town of the state of Çankırı in Turkey. This sectional study focused on 225 mothers with children aged 0-14 years located in Eldivan city center. We aimed to reach all mothers but were able to reach 219 of them (97.3%). We carried out a survey using the face-to-face interview technique. A total of 1041 persons lived in the 219 households we visited to interview. Of the mothers interviewed, 91 (41.6%) were 35 to 44 years old, 120 (54.8%) had finished primary school, and 201 (91.85%) were housewives. 67 (30.6%) of the 219 households interviewed reported at least one accident in the three month period of July-September 2003 with 106 persons, most of them mothers and children, having 188 accidents. 64.8% of the mothers received inadequate or worse marks from the test evaluating their first aid knowledge. The marks decreased as the mother's age increased but improved with higher education levels. The logistic regression model revealed that the most important contribution to the knowledge score was from the mother's educational status. It should be possible to determine which groups are more susceptible to accidents at home by using the results of this study and to develop accident prevention programs and concentrate efforts on training for first aid on areas where mothers do not have adequate knowledge.