@article{ref1,
title=""When you're hurt and you need serious help you call 999." Educating children about emergency services and appropriate use of 999: an evaluation study of the Blue Light Hub app",
journal="BMJ open",
year="2024",
author="Paine, Amy L. and Maclean, Fiona",
volume="14",
number="6",
pages="e079214-e079214",
abstract="OBJECTIVES: In the face of unprecedented demand, the Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust developed 'Blue Light Hub': a new app to educate primary school-aged children about emergency services. Our overarching aim was to examine the effectiveness of the app. <br><br>DESIGN: Primary school-aged children from three schools in South Wales, UK, played with the app for 2 hours over 2 weeks in class time. Children completed quizzes to assess their knowledge and awareness of, and confidence in engaging with, emergency services before and after using the app. PARTICIPANTS: Our evaluation focused on N=393 children who completed both the pre-test and post-test quizzes. On average, children were 8-9 years old (median school year, Year 4); 47.8% were male and 50.9% were female. <br><br>RESULTS: After using the app, there was a significant increase in the proportion of children who knew of appropriate actions to take in non-emergency scenarios, χ(2)(1) = 26.01, and could provide a question a call handler would ask them if they called 999, χ(2)(1) = 13.79. There was also an increase in the proportion of children who could identify an National Health Service (NHS) service that could help them if they were unwell, χ(2)(1) = 33.31, name different roles in the NHS, χ(2)(1) = 12.80 and knew how dialling 111 could help them χ(2)(1) = 90.05 (all p values<0.001). <br><br>CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, Blue Light Hub is the first app of its kind designed to educate primary school-aged children about emergency services. Our findings provide preliminary evidence that the app supports children's knowledge and awareness of emergency services.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2044-6055",
doi="10.1136/bmjopen-2023-079214",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-079214"
}