Awareness regarding sports first aid among newly appointed sports coaches in schools in Sabaragamuwa Province in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The present study is directed to identify the awareness of sports first aid among newly appointed sports coaches in schools in Sabaragamuwa province. The association of chronological age, educational level, district and sex were investigated to measure the awareness of sports first aid. Under the survey research design, a questionnaire consisting of two parts was distributed to collect demographic information and awareness of sports first aid. Sample of 207 was selected using a stratified random sampling method. Minitab version 17 and Microsoft Excel 2013 were used for statistical analysis. One-way ANOVA test used to investigate the mean differences of chronological age with awareness of first aid. Two sample t-test used to investigate mean differences of sex and districts with respect to the awareness of first aid. The mean score of overall awareness of sports first aid was 48.4%. Male coaches mean score was 49.2% and female coaches mean score was 46.7% for awareness of sports first aid and it was not statistically significant (P=0.058). Coaches in Kegalle scored a mean of 49% and coaches in Ratnapura scored a mean of 47.8% respectively for the awareness with respect to the districts and the differences were not statistically significant (P=0.303). Regards to awareness of chronological age groups, coaches who were age 23 or below, 24 to 33 and over 33 scored 46%, 49.1% and 49% respectively and it was not significantly different (P=0.111). Coaches qualified in O/L were scored 47.5% and coaches qualified in A/L scored 48.6% respectively and it was not significantly different (P=0.056). In a conclusion, it was evident the awareness of coaches of sports first aid was not sufficient (<50%). The researcher recommends respective authorities to conduct programs to improve awareness of sports first aid of newly appointed coaches in Sabaragamuwa Province which is crucial in coaching athletes.