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The effect of different educational interventions on schoolchildren's knowledge of earthquake protective behaviour in Israel
Author(s) -
Soffer Yechiel,
Goldberg Avishay,
AvisarShohat Galit,
Cohen Robert,
BarDayan Yaron
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
disasters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.744
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-7717
pISSN - 0361-3666
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7717.2009.01125.x
Subject(s) - psychological intervention , intervention (counseling) , suicide prevention , injury prevention , occupational safety and health , poison control , knowledge level , human factors and ergonomics , medicine , medical education , psychology , family medicine , environmental health , mathematics education , nursing , pathology
Knowledge of appropriate behaviour during an earthquake is crucial for prevention of injury and loss of life. The Israeli Home Front Command conducts a yearly earthquake education programme in all Israeli schools, using three types of educational interventions: lectures, drills and a combination of the two. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions in providing students with knowledge. We distributed a questionnaire to 2,648 children from the 5th and 6th grades in 120 schools nationwide. Knowledge scores for both 5th and 6th grades were increased, regardless of type of intervention, compared to the non‐exposure group. A combined intervention of lectures and drills resulted in the highest knowledge scores. Our findings suggest that for the age group studied a combination of lectures and drills will likely prepare students best for how to behave in the event of an earthquake.