This document describes a study that developed a smartphone application called "9-1-1 Heroes" to teach emergency skills to children. The study team included doctors, researchers, developers and others. Children participated in baseline and post assessments involving simulated emergency situations. Between assessments, participants received either a 45 minute educational session involving didactic teaching and simulations using the app, or traditional teaching. Results showed the intervention group identifying emergencies at a higher rate than the traditional group. Further development and research on the app and simulations teaching is planned.
1. A Smartphone Application
Designed to Teach Emergency
Skills to Children
Dr. Joelene Huber, MD FRCPC, PhD, Msc
Dr.Catharine Walsh, MD, Med, PhD, FRCPC
2. Study Team
• Dr. Joelene Huber, Principal investigator, Developmental
Pediatrician
• Dr. Catharine Walsh, Co-Principal Investigator, Education
Researcher
• Ankit Guglani, Marki Sveen and Nitin Malik, Mobile Application
Developer, Computer Science Student
• Thivia Jegathesan, Research Coordinator in Department of
Pediatrics
• Sarah Davis, Behavior Therapist
• Jean Phan, Research Assistant, Life Science Student
• Dr. Niraj Mistry, Co-investigator, Mobile Health Expert
• Dr. Elizabeth Young, Co-investigator, Developmental Pediatrician
• Dr. Douglas Campbell, Co-investigator, Director of Allan Walters
Simulation Centre, St. Michael’s Hospital
• Dr. Joey Bonifacio, Co-investigator, Adolescent Medicine
• Dr. Alex Mihalidis, Biomedical Engineer, Toronto Rehabilitation
Institute
16. Smartphone Application to Teach Emergency Skills to
Children
Purpose: The need for smartphone application in teaching children
emergency skills
Methods:
Baseline Assessment: 9-1-1 Emergency Simulation
•Behaviour skills 9-1-1 task analysis checklist
45 minutes educational Session
•Didactic teaching of Emergency Skills
•Simulation Teaching: 9-1-1 Heroes APP
Post Assessment: 9-1-1 Emergency Simulation
•Behaviour skills 9-1-1 task analysis checklist
Questionnaires
•Demographic
•Follow-up
17. Results
• 70% of intervention group identified emergency (42.9% of
kindergarten, 33.3% first, 100% second and third grades
• 54.8 % of the traditional group (20% of Kindergarten, 66.7% first and
third grades, 85.7% second grade
Training children to recognize emergencies and dial 911 can save lives.
Children as young as three to four years of age are able to recognize emergencies and dial 911
Many children, however, do not know how to respond, if faced with an emergency situation, placing them at a significant safety risk.
Mobile Phones Replacing Landline Phones
-Personal mobile phones are rapidly replacing landline phone use.
-Children have been reported to be the largest new user groups of mobile technology, suggesting a transition from landline phone use to mobile phones (5).
-However due to the complexity of mobile devices compared to landline phones, children may not know how to bypass a pass-code and access the emergency call function on any mobile phone.
-Also, 911 dispatchers are unable to identify a location through a mobile phone call and would therefore require a child’s report of their address (7).-Dispatchers can no determine the precise location of a caller who dials 9-1-1 from any cell phone
-It is essential to stay on the line and give the location to the 911 call taker.
- Purpose to determine the effectiveness mobile apps vs. didactic teaching if emergency protocol
Didactic training does not include
Use of mobile phones
Simulated practice
Feedback
Needs of ASD children
*Simulation teaching of our programs uses a mobile application app 9-1-1 superhero that uses Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) Principles (modeling, rehearsal, performance and feedback) and simulated practice to teach children to identify an emergency, call 911 and report their name, emergency and location on a mobile device
One of the most effective way to teach a child new skill
ABA training principles (modeling, rehearsal, performance and feedback), with simulated practice, utilize prompts and positive reinforcement while systematically fading prompts, based on the child’s individual success, as target skills are achieved (Kilroe, Murphy et al. 2014, Schwebel, McClure et al. 2014).
The Canadian government Health-Emergency preparedness recommendations advise preparing children for emergencies and training emergency recognition and response skills, such as dialing 9-1-1, through simulated practice (Canada 2012). Simulated practice has been shown to be an effective education strategy for building competence in emergency skills (Coles, Strickland et al. 2007, Trepagnier, Olsen et al. 2011, Police 2014)
simulated practice interventions are a unique way to learn crucial skills in a safe environment.
911 Superheroes an emergency app was developed by an interdisciplinary team
- Operationalize app using android features– speech language library ,voice detection, videos
The app is compatible on android smartphone devices with the capability of being adapted to IOS
Operationalize app using android features– speech language library ,voice detection, videos
9-1-1 Superhero includes a modeling video, followed by behavior training modules that incorporate audio and visual prompts, gradual fading of prompts when accuracy is achieved and gaming-style feedback.
These modules teach children to identify an emergency, bypass a password-protected screen and access the emergency function to dial 9-1-1 and respond to a simulated dispatcher. Through the use of voice recognition technology, children learn to accurately respond to the simulated 9-1-1 dispatcher’s questions such as type of emergency (i.e., fire, ambulance or police), name, location, description of the emergency, and a safety assessment.
Fifty children completed the baseline simulated emergency test. There was no significant difference in performance between groups.
. Seventy percent of the intervention group recognized the situation as an emergency (42.9% of kindergarten, 33.3% first, 100% second and third grades) compared to 54.8 % of the traditional group (20% of Kindergarten, 66.7% first and third grades, 85.7% second grade)
Pre-test Preliminary Analysis
Did not Identify an Emergency
JK/SK10/5020%
Grade 15/5010%
Grade 22/50 4%
Grade 3 4/50 8%
Called 9-1-1
JK/SK0/500%
Grade 10/500%
Grade 23/506%
Grade 3 2/504%
Did not identify an Emergency
JK/SK7/5014%
Grade 13/506%
Grade 211/5022%
Grade 3 8/5016%
Post-test Preliminary Analysis
Did not Identify an Emergency
JK/SK: 12/46=26%
Grade 1: 3/46= 6.52%
Grade 2:1/46= 2.17%
Grade 3 :2/46= 4.35%
Called 9-1-1
JK/SK:0/46=0%
Grade 10/46=0%
Grade 23/46=6.52%
Grade 3 7/46=15%
Identified an Emergency
JK/SK:5/46 = 10.87%
Grade1: 3/46= 6.52%
Grade 2: 9/46 = 19.56%
Grade 3 :11/46=23.91%
Of the parents of children who identified the emergency, 78% in the control group (10% of Kindergarten, 5% first, 15% second, 20% third grade) and 50% in the control group (all first graders, 33.3% of grade 2 and 75% of grade 3) reported to talk to their children about when and how to dial 9-1-1. Four children from the app group dialed 9-1-1 (all third graders) compared to six children in the control group (3 second and 3 third graders).
Pre-test Identified Emergency and had Emergency talk
JK/SK:2/50=4%
Grade 1: 2/50=4%
Grade 2 6/50=12%
Grade 3 5/50=10%
All three children in the intervention group were shown how to dial 9-1-1 on their parent’s phone and four of the children in the traditional group.
Pre-test preliminary Analysis
Called 9-1-1 and had emergency talk
JK/SK:0/50=0%
Grade 1: 0/50=0%
Grade 2:1/50=2%
Grade 3 :2/50=4%
