Aviation first aid educational module for post-pandemic scenarios: a study on Chinese cabin crew college students

Abstract

Aviation first aid is essential in preparing the qualified cabin crew to handle various inflight medical cases. It has become a core course for aviation service and aviation art and management at vocational colleges or universities. Due to complex situations during and after the pandemic period, cabin crew faces tremendous challenges in conducting their duties related to inflight infection prevention (IP), first aid and service aspects onboard. Hence, this study aims to design and develop an aviation first aid educational module for post-pandemic scenarios. The Design and Development Research (DDR) type 1, ADDIE model, and Competency-Based Education (CBE) were employed to develop the module. This study was conducted in three phases using the DDR approach, which involved Phase 1: Needs Analysis, Phase 2: Design and Development, and Phase 3: Implementation and Evaluation. In the first phase, n=12 experts involving senior cabin crew (n=6), first aid trainers (n=4), and lectures (n=2) from universities teaching aviation first aid courses were recruited for semi-structured interviews to identify the latest requirements of the aviation industry and their perspectives on aviation first aid education. Employing purposive sampling, cabin crew sophomore college students (n=23) were invited for focus group discussions to provide their opinions on aviation first aid courses. Multi-qualitative methods were utilized to collect the information. Thematic analysis was adopted for data analysis. The findings of needs analysis were fundamental for developing the module in the next phase. The module was developed based on the situated learning theory (SLT), the integrative model of behaviour prediction (IMBP), the theory of cognitive constructivism, previous literature, related industrial documents, the experts' perspectives, and the student's needs. Following the development of the module prototype, formative evaluation was conducted using mix methods, which included expert review and one-to-one evaluation by students, before revisions were made accordingly. In the last phase, mix methods were employed for summative evaluation, including survey questionnaires and semi-structured interview. A posttest-only control group design was adopted to verify the effectiveness by comparing the learning outcomes of the experimental group (n=30) and control group (n=30). Finally, the suitability of the module was evaluated by the students and the lecturer. The findings showed that the aviation first aid educational module can enhance students’ theoretical knowledge, practical skills, and first-aid awareness. The findings also indicate that the new developed module addresses the current needs of the aviation industry and was favored by both students and teachers in terms of its convenience, flexibility and richness in content and instructional method. It is suggested to be an effective and innovative intervention in aviation first aid education for Chinese cabin crew college students, which also can be utilized for cabin crew training or education purpose in other countries. Additionally, this new intervention can potentially benefit many individuals, parties, and even organizations when evaluating this mode of training or education in the related field.