The knowledge level and practices of the mothers of children with special needs on first aid

Childhood accidents are seen as an important public health problem. If we add our children with special needs among the children, it is seen that the health problems that may be encountered increase more. The first aid practice applied by our mothers in the face of accidents is important. It is more difficult to give first aid to our children with special needs. In this study, it is aimed to have information about the first aid knowledge level of the mothers of the children who go to the Special Education and Rehabilitation Center in Yozgat and their practices when they encounter a situation that requires first aid. It is a qualitative study and the questions were applied with a semi-structured interview form created by the researcher. 20 mothers were interviewed as participants. The questions were asked to the mothers through face-to-face interviews. It was understood that the 3 mothers interviewed were not in a position to answer the questions in terms of mental health. The opinions of these mothers were not taken. The mothers were given numbers between 1-20 and expressed in this way. The demographic information of the mothers, the frequency of encountering situations requiring first aid, and the practices they did when they encountered them were asked. In this study, all of our mothers were housewives, and the age range of the mothers in the young or middle age group did not make a difference in the level of first aid knowledge. All of our participating mothers are housewives. When we look at the answers given to the questions of what do you do when faced with a situation that will require first aid, most of the mothers gave the same answer. Especially mothers preferred traditional methods that they saw from their elders. When we look at the answers given, the information was either incomplete or incorrect. As a result, incentives should be created for our mothers to attend courses in order to increase their first aid knowledge level. We see that it is necessary to organize programs, brochures and trainings that will increase the perception and knowledge of mothers in this regard.