Improvements in Primary Emergency Care Understanding during Matches for Football Coaches and Referees in East Java

Abstract

Improper initial management of emergency conditions during soccer matches causes long-term morbidity, affects the athlete’s future performance, and is sometimes life-threatening. Soccer coaches and referees can be laypeople who give first aid and understand when to remove the athlete from the field of play. This program aims to improve the emergency management knowledge of the coaches and referees in East Java. This program was conducted in September 2022 – January 2023. All referees, assistant referees, and coaches of the Football Association of Indonesia region East Java who attended this training were included. The emergency management training was presented material using video, PowerPoint media, and hands-on mannequins. Before and after the training, participants were given some questions to assess their level of knowledge, with a minimum passing score was 75. Comparative tests (Wilcoxon signed rank, McNemar, and Chi-square test) were used to analyze the data. A hundred and twenty-eight (128) participants were included in this program. The median of the pre-and post-test scores were 62.5 and 87.5. There was a significant difference between pre-and post-test scores (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference between coaches and referee groups in pre-test scores (p = 0.743). However, in the post-test score, the coach group had a significantly higher number of participants who did not pass than the referee group (29.6% vs. 10.8%, p = 0.007). This program improved the emergency knowledge during matches of the coaches and referees to prevent adding the severity of injuries of the soccer athlete.