Determination of disaster awareness and basic first aid knowledge levels of high school students: Example of Samsun-Havza

Many disasters occur every year in the world and these disasters cause thousands of people to lose their lives, injure them and cause material and moral losses. The least affected by the disasters are the communities that make their preparations before the disaster. High schools are institutions where the university students of the future or professional groups are trained. The transfer of effective disaster management and education system implemented in high schools to future generations also means being prepared for disasters in future generations. Within the scope of this thesis, a research and evaluation has been carried out to determine the disaster and first aid knowledge level of high school students in Havza district of Samsun. Students from 6 high schools with high school education participated in the study. The questionnaire consists of 48 questions, 8 of which are personal information, 20 questions of first aid knowledge level and 20 questions of basic disaster awareness. A total of 1032 students, 557 boys and 475 girls, participated in the survey. When the first aid knowledge scores of the participants were evaluated, a statistically significant result was reached, and the first aid knowledge score was calculated as 60.13±16.73. When the disaster information points were evaluated, a statistically significant result was reached and the disaster information score was found to be 74.52±22.14 (P <0.05). As a result of the findings obtained from the analyses, the disaster awareness and basic first aid levels of the students studying at the high school level in the basin were determined, and in this context, the studies to be done to determine the deficiencies and the deficiencies were proposed. Keywords: Disaster, Disaster Awareness, First Aid, Samsun-Havza