Web-Based Fire Safety Training for Board and Care Staff

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议研究的目的是通过开发和分发一个全面和有效的基于网络的培训计划，减少老年人住宿和护理设施中与火灾有关的死亡和受伤的发生率。居住在小型住宅和护理设施中的老年人因其特点（行动能力下降、痴呆、大量使用药物、感觉丧失和呼吸系统较弱）和环境（居民人数超过工作人员;缺乏先进的消防系统和缺乏工作人员培训）而面临特别高的火灾死亡和受伤风险。培训对于小型住宅板和护理设施的业主，运营商和工作人员至关重要，因为他们负责消防的各个方面，包括检查危险，购买/测试/维护消防设备，制定火灾应急计划，与消防检查员互动和培训居民。然而，前往异地进行培训是困难的，耗时的，昂贵的，因为它需要离开居民与备份照顾者。网络技术目前利用不足，尽管它提供了很大的希望和巨大的培训需求存在。基于网络的培训可以减少提供培训的许多现有障碍，允许提供者在自己的设施中完成课程，从州许可机构获得继续教育学分。一个全面的、互动的、基于网络的消防安全培训计划将为护理人员提供预防火灾和在火灾紧急情况下正确反应所需的知识和技能。该计划将包括互动，动画，视频，图形和叙述，以创造一个媒体丰富的学习环境。第一阶段的试点研究表明，关于火灾应急规划专题的网上原型培训模块是有效的。与对照组相比，完成培训的研究参与者从测试前到测试后的分数显著提高。参加者在课程评价中表示，计算机易于用于培训（97%），他们希望在今后的培训课程中使用计算机（97%）。第二阶段将扩大研究范围，包括开发两个新的基于网络的培训模块，主题是识别和消除火灾危险以及安装、测试和维护消防安全装置。研究人员将在全国实地测试中评估该计划。这个提议的项目支持国家老龄化研究所的使命“改善美国老年人的健康和福祉”。考虑到火灾死亡和受伤的风险，这项研究对居民、设施所有者和工作人员至关重要。居住在小型住宅和护理设施中的老年人面临着特别高的火灾伤亡风险。该项目将通过开发和分发一个全面和有效的基于网络的培训方案，力求减少与火灾有关的伤亡事件。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of the proposed research is to reduce the incidence of fire-related deaths and injuries in board and care facilities for the elderly through the development and distribution of a comprehensive and validated web-based training program. Older adults in small residential board and care facilities are at a particularly high risk of fire death and injury because of their characteristics (decreased mobility, dementia, high medication use, sensory losses, and weaker respiratory systems) and environment (residents outnumber the staff; lack of sophisticated fire protection systems, and lack of staff training). Training is critical for owners, operators, and staff of small residential board and care facilities because they are responsible for all facets of fire protection, including inspecting for hazards, buying/testing/maintaining fire protection equipment, developing a fire emergency plan, interacting with the fire inspector and training residents. However, traveling to off-site locations for training is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive because it requires leaving the residents with back-up caregivers. Web technology is currently underutilized despite the great promise that it offers and the enormous need for training that exists. Web-based training can reduce many of the existing barriers for delivering training, allowing providers to complete the program at their own facilities to receive continuing education credits from their state licensing agencies. A comprehensive, interactive web-based fire safety training program will give caregivers the knowledge and skills they need to prevent a fire and to respond correctly in a fire emergency. The program will include interaction, animation, video, graphics and narration to create a media-rich learning environment. The Phase I pilot study demonstrated the effectiveness of a prototype web-based training module on the topic of fire emergency planning. Study participants who completed the training significantly improved their scores from pre- to posttest when compared to a control group. Participants indicated on the course evaluation that the computers were easy to use for training (97%) and that they would like to use computers for future training courses (97%). Phase II will expand the research to include the development of two new web-based training modules on the topics of identifying and eliminating fire hazards and installing, testing, and maintaining fire safety devices. Researchers will evaluate the program in a national field test. This proposed project supports the National Institute on Aging's mission "to improve the health and well- being of older Americans". Considering the risk of fire death and injury, the research is critically important to residents, facility owners, and staff. Older adults in small residential board and care facilities are at a particularly high risk of fire death and injury. This project will seek to reduce the incidence of fire-related deaths and injuries through the development and distribution of a comprehensive and validated web-based training program.