Non-Traditional Teaching Methods for Emergency Care Education: Student Perceptions

Abstract

Six non-traditional, behavior oriented, teaching methods were used in a bystander educational unit as an adjunct to a traditional university first aid course. The behavioral objective of the unit was to improve emergency helping behavior by helping students overcome the psychological barriers that inhibit helping. As hypothesized, exposure to the unit resulted in more frequent (53 percent vs. 34 percent) and more appropriate (33 percent vs. 7 percent) emergency helping behavior. Using student perceptions as a basis, this article attempts to evaluate the relative impact of each behavior modification teaching method in relation to emergency helping. After receiving the bystander educational unit, students were asked to rank the teaching methods (from one to six) in order of perceived effectiveness. A “GPA-like” score then was calculated for each method based on student rankings. Teaching methods were scored by students as follows: Mental Imagery (2.41), Goal Setting (2.30), Modeling (1.97), Psychological Skills Practice (1.97), Contracting