Knowledge of health principles among professionals in Slovenian kindergartens

Kindergarten teachers’ and their assistants’ health knowledge self-evaluation in percentages.

Question	Statements (%)
How would you rate your knowledge of health principles?	insufficient	sufficient	good	very good	excellent
How would you rate your knowledge of health principles?	0.1	3.4	29.9	56.2	10.4
How would you rate your knowledge of first aid?	insufficient	sufficient	good	very good	excellent
How would you rate your knowledge of first aid?	0.7	9.0	44.9	40.6	4.8
Where did you gain most of your knowledge of health principles?	at college or university	at seminars	at work	books, internet	elsewhere
	46.0	12.5	9.8	5.4	2.3
When did you have the last training on health principles?	1 year or less ago	1–5 years ago	5–10 years ago	10–15 years ago	more than 15 years ago
	81.6	18.4	0.0	0.0	0.0

Kindergarten teachers’ and their assistants’ responsibility related to health principles in percentages.

Question	Statements (%)
Is knowledge of health principles important for KT and KTA?	strongly agree	agree	do not agree	definitely do not agree
	86.7	13.2	0.1	0.0
Is it true that, in case of acute illness, KT or KTA must inform kindergarten headmaster and parents?	never	only for children aged 3 years or less	only if a child allows	always
	2.9	0.3	0.0	96.8
Is it true that, in case of emergency, KT or KTA is not allowed to accompany a child to a doctor?	true, a child can be accompanied only by parents	true, if the headmaster allows	true, if the parents allow	not true, a child can be accompanied by KT or KTA
	22.7	8.0	17.9	51.4

Kindergarten teachers’ and their assistants’ knowledge of health principles in percentages.

Question	Statements (%)
A child in a group has celiac disease. What is the correct measure?	In case of a birthday party, I would give him/ her only a small piece of cake	The child has a diet, but at breakfast he/she can have one-quarter of a roll	Only gluten free food is permissible	In kindergarten, we do not account for the diets of children	I do not know
	0.3	0.0	[98.3]	0.3	0.0
How would you react in case of high fever (>38.5 ºC)?	I would take him/ her immediately to the doctor	I would call the parents	I would separate the child from the class and wait for parents to come	I would check body temperature, give some water and call parents	I do not know
	0.1	15.5	1.4	[82.9]	0.1
Which are the signs of diabetes complications?	High body temperature	Incontinence disorders	Chest pain	Fatigue, drowsiness, hunger, thirst, shivering	I do not know
	0.1	0.0	0.1	0.3	2.5
A child has an abrasion on his/her hand. What is the first aid?	I would cover the abrasion with a clean pad	I would first wash the abrasion with water and then cover with a clean pad	I would first wash the abrasion with alcohol and then cover with a clean pad	I would call emergency medical services immediately	I do not know
	0.1	0.0	0.1	0.3	2.5
Have you ever been in a situation when parents brought antibiotics in the kindergarten and asked you to give them to their child at a certain time?	Yes	No	I do not remember	/	/
	40.1	[49.5]	10.4

Note: Correct answers are in brackets.

Kindergarten teachers’ and their assistants’ responsibility related to health principles in percentages.

How important are the following infection preventive measures?
Answers	Statements (%)
Answers	Agree	Disagree	I do not know
I would immediately give the child a medication to treat fever	40.1	[49.5]	10.4
I would cool down the child’s body	[78.4]	15.3	6.1
I would immediately take the child to the doctor	28.2	[58.0]	13.7
I would give the child a medication to treat fever only in case of previously written authorization	[86.4]	8.9	4.7
I would call the emergency service	[74.0]	18.0	8.0
How important is hand washing for infection prevention?
After toilet use	[95.5]	0.0	0.5
Before a meal	[99.2]	0.1	0.6
After shaking hands	[53.1]	45.1	1.8
After touching one’s nose	[90.5]	8.5	0.9
After using toys	[86.7]	12.4	0.9
After using books	[47.3]	51.0	1.7
How important are the following infection preventive measures?
Sneezing /coughing into a sleeve	[96.9]	2.5	0.7
Hand washing after touching animals	[96.4]	3.1	0.5
Separation of a sick child from the rest of the group	[92.5]	5.6	1.9
Hand disinfection	81.3	[17.7]	1.0
Preventive vaccination	[74.4]	20.6	4.9
Disinfection of toys	[97.7]	2.2	0.1
Ventilation of rooms	[97.7]	0.1	0.1

Note: Correct answers are in brackets.

Comparison of kindergarten teachers’ and their assistants’ answers regarding the age, work occupation and years of work experiences.

Questions		Statistics
		Age		Occupation		Work experiences
		p-value	sig.	p-value	sig.	p-value	sig.
RESPONSIBILITY	Knowledge of health principles is important for KT and KTA	0.913	NS	0.222	NS	0.791	NS
	Is it true that, in case of acute illness, KT or KTA must inform the kindergarten headmaster and parents?	0.319	NS	0.992	NS	0.793	NS
	Is it true that, in case of emergency, KT or KTA should not accompany the child to the doctor?	0.000	**	0.459	NS	0.984	NS
HEALTH PRINCIPLES KNOWLEDGE	A child in the group has celiac disease. What is the correct measure?	0.465	NS	0.411	NS	0.611	NS
	How would you react in case of high fever (>38.5 ºC)?	0.000	**	0.000	**	0.869	NS
	Which are the signs of diabetes complications?	0.008	*	0.890	NS	1.000	NS
	A child has an abrasion on his/her arm. What is the first aid?	0.764	NS	0.960	NS	0.180	NS
	Is it advisable to continue breastfeeding when a child is oneyear old and goesto the kindergarten?	0.619	NS	0.002	*	0.504	NS
	Have you ever been in a situation when parents brought antibiotics to the kindergarten and asked you to give them to the child at a certain time?	0.000	**	0.000	**	0.000	**
KNOWLEDGE EVALUATION	How would you rate your knowledge of health principles?	0.708	NS	0.829	NS	0.166	NS
	Where did you gain most of your knowledge of health principles?	0.010	*	0.773	NS	0.422	NS
	When did you have your last training in health principles?	0.000	**	0.547	NS	0.694	NS

Note: Correct answers are in brackets.

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