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The first aid policies and practices of community sports clubs in northern Sydney, Australia
Author(s) -
Donaldson Alex,
Forero Roberto,
Finch Caroline
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
health promotion journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.515
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 2201-1617
pISSN - 1036-1073
DOI - 10.1071/he04155
Subject(s) - population health , health economics , community health , publishing , public health , project commissioning , political science , geography , economic growth , public relations , medicine , nursing , economics , law
Issue addressed This paper describes and compares the first aid policies and practices of community sports clubs in northern Sydney, Australia. Methods A piloted and validated questionnaire was used to assess the first aid policies and practices of 163 community netball, rugby league, rugby union, and soccer clubs. Response rate was 85%. Scales were developed to compare the adoption of first aid policies (range 0–14) and practices (range 0–32) across sports. Descriptive and inferential statistics were calculated to compare scores across sports. Results The mean policy scores (95% CI) were: netball 6.4 (5.9–7.0); rugby league 7.0 (6.0–8.0); rugby union 6.2 (5.5–6.9); soccer 3.9 (3.3–4.5). The mean practice scores were: netball 24.4 (23.2–25.6); rugby league 26.2 (24.3–28.1); rugby union 23.0 (21.1–24.9); soccer 17.6 (16.3–18.9). Soccer clubs achieved significantly lower mean policy (p<0.001) and practice (p<0.001) scores than the other sports. Safety issues on which >50% of all clubs reported not having a policy were: the attendance of qualified first aid providers at training (88%), infectious disease control (77%), pre‐participation screening (72%), and head injury management (51%). Conclusions There is room for improvement in the first aid policies and practices of community sports clubs, particularly soccer clubs, in northern Sydney. The lack of policies on the management of head injuries, pre participation screening and infectious disease control and the poor attendance of qualified first aid providers at training should be addressed. So what? Although first aid is a recommended sports injury prevention and management strategy few community sports, clubs have adopted policies or implemented practices to address this issue comprehensively. Effective strategies to assist community sports clubs to improve in these areas should be identified.