Background: Unintentional injuries are the major cause of death among child
ren, adolescents, and young adults. This article presents an evaluation of
an injury-prevention program for 11- to 16-year-old, Hispanic migrant youth
.
Design: Randomized controlled trial with two conditions: first aid and home
safety training and tobacco and alcohol prevention. Participants were asse
ssed at baseline, at immediate post-intervention, and at 1-year follow-up.
Participants: A total of 660 Hispanic adolescent and parent pairs participa
ted in a program entitled Sembrando Salud (sowing the seeds of health).
Intervention: The intervention consisted of two conditions: first aid and h
ome safety training and tobacco and alcohol prevention. Both groups were ex
posed to an eight-session, multimedia program presented by bilingual, bicul
tural college students. The sessions consisted of lectures, discussions, an
d skills development and practice.
Outcome Measures: To examine the efficacy of the first aid and home safety
intervention, adolescents were assessed for changes in first aid confidence
, knowledge of items in a first aid kit, knowledge of how to respond in an
emergency situation, acquisition of a first aid kit, and behavioral skills
testing in response to two emergency scenarios.
Results: Similar changes in confidence were observed in both groups after t
he intervention. Participants in the first aid and home safety program were
better able to identify items to include in a first aid kit, how to respon
d in an emergency situation, and reported fewer erroneous victim-caring pro
cedures than the tobacco and alcohol prevention group.
Conclusions: Sembrando Salud was successful at achieving and maintaining ch
ange in confidence and knowledge of first aid and emergency response skills
over a yearlong period.