Comparison of basic disaster awareness and first aid knowledge levels of vocational and technical high school students : Example of Ordu-Fatsa

Disasters are the results of events that may cause loss of life and property when it occurred and that we may encounter at an unexpected time. In order to reduce the impact of disasters, specific studies should be carried out in the pre-disaster preparedness period. In this study, a research and evaluation has been carried out to determine the disaster and first aid knowledge level of the Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School students being educated in high school level in Fatsa district of Ordu, where no research was done before. With this study carried out in Fatsa district, it is aimed to provide disaster preparedness and first aid levels of the students being educated in different high schools in Fatsa. High school students being educated in Fatsa district of Ordu constitute the participants of the research done. The questionnaire study consists of 48 questions in total and was applied to 350 high school students studying at different schools. The data were evaluated and interpreted with the SPSS package program. According to the results obtained, the rate of correct response in the first aid test increased as the class level increased and reached the highest level in the last years. The reason for this is that the first aid course in the curriculum in the high schools providing health education was given in the last year and this situation clearly affected the level of knowledge in tests. When all the results were examined, it was concluded that trainings provided should not only be in theory but the students should be included in the process.