Assessment of basic life support theoretical knowledge of football coaches after traditional and online education

Abstract

Athletes are at risk for cardiac arrest and arrhythmia due to high physical activity during intense training and matches. When such a situation occurs, it is crucial that those around the athlete are able to provide basic life support (BLS) to prevent death from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Therefore, in this study, football coaches were given both online and traditional face-to-face BLS training, and then it was aimed to investigate whether the training model affected the increase in BLS knowledge. The study was conducted between 21 April and 21 May. A pre-test measuring theoretical BLS knowledge was applied to 261 football coaches. Then the coaches chose voluntarily basis what type of BLS training (traditional or online) they would receive. After the training, the post-test was applied to the participants. The obtained results were evaluated and the score increases between the 2 groups were compared. The overall level of knowledge was significantly higher in both course models after education (64>86.5 for the Traditional group and 63.9>83.6 for the Online group). Results showed that the mean increase in post-test scores was higher in the traditional education group (22.5 points for the traditional group and 19.6 points for the online group, p<0.001). In conclusion, although traditional education seems to be more successful than online education in our study, there is no clear answer about the effectiveness of tranining models. Online BLS education may serve as an alternative to traditional education for groups that cannot participate in traditional education. Rather than choosing one over the other, an adaptive approach can be tailored to the needs of different groups.