Effects of school-based intervention by emergency medical technicians on students and their parents: a community-based prospective study of the Akashi Project

Objective: Stroke lessons for youth provided by emergency medical technicians (EMTs) may be an effective strategy to facilitate early intervention for patients with stroke. The aim of this study was to examine how effective EMT-led lessons on stroke awareness for schoolchildren were at disseminating stroke information. Setting, participants and outcome measures: The study was performed in the city of Akashi, Hyogo, Japan (Akashi project). Children (aged 9−10 years old) at 11 public elementary schools and their parents were enrolled in this study. EMTs from the firefighting headquarters provided lessons on stroke to the children using our educational materials between September 2014 and October 2015. Each child was given our educational materials to take home and discuss stroke with their parents. The children and their parents answered questionnaires on stroke knowledge before, immediately, and at 3months after the lesson. Results: A total of 763children and 489parents were enrolled (i....