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Table 4 Analysis of data with respect to the five learning objectives of the workshop

From: Life on a knife edge: using simulation to engage young people in issues surrounding knife crime

Objectives

Summary

Quotes from transcript

Educational

1. Emergency services call information.

Three of the five participants explicitly described the correct response within their interviews at TP1.

At TP2, only one participant recalled the correct action while the other four only remembered the information obliquely.

“…if you hear of if you see, like, a knife crime being committed call for an ambulance and tell them if the scene’s safe or not.” (1.5)

“…call 999 and tell them if, like, the area is clear from danger so the ambulance and that can get here quicker.” (2.5)

2. Personal consequences of a knife wound.

Over both time points, the participants expressed an increased awareness of how an individual may be affected by a knife injury—physical, mental and legal consequences.

“…the poo bag, that’s never going to leave my memory [laughs].” (2.1)

“…it’s a big thing when you get stabbed…physically and mentally because it does change your life.” (2.5)

3. Wider consequences of criminal knife behaviour.

All participants at both time points were able to identify relevant wider consequences for the people around them, especially family members. However, some of the responses appeared to derive from instinct rather than relating to specific learning from the workshop.

“[A stabbing] affects the victim’s friends, family, the people who have to help him afterwards, like the social workers, doctors.” (1.5)

“…antibiotics, going back and forth to the hospital, that sort of thing.” (1.2)

Behavioural

1. Any attitude change?

This objective was loosely achieved. The participants were not specifically asked their attitude towards criminal knife behaviour prior to the workshop therefore a direct pre-/post-workshop comparison could not be made. Furthermore, as identified in Table 3, three of the participants had previously attended an educational workshop and may have already had a responsible attitude towards knives that added bias to the data.

Despite this, it was possible to identify a change in attitude in two participants.

“…all of the people that I hang around with already know, already know about the danger about stabbing because we already spoke about it before.” (1.3)

“I think a bit more, even more cautious around knives and people that carry them.” (1.1)

“…if you was [sic] to use the knife on someone you’d know the impact on that person so it, kind of discourages you to want to use a knife.” (2.4)

2. Any behavioural change?

Across the two time points, the workshop appears to have had a clear impact on the behaviour on seven of the participants. Several of the participants expressed greater reticence now about stepping in if they saw a knife crime in action.

There was a focus on first-aid related knowledge and dealing with the situation calmly.

Two participants described intended changes in their behaviour towards other people who carried knives. These intentions were only expressed at time point 1.

“Before, I would have involved myself and tried getting the knife off of [sic] whoever but especially seeing the guy who got stabbed, it makes you think that being the bigger person by moving away is being the bigger person.” (2.3)

“I did not know about the compression of the wound and to make it clot, so that’s one thing I’d do if I saw someone with a stab wound.” (2.4)

“…if someone had a knife then, that I knew, I’d tell them that they should not be carrying it and I’ll explain to them why.” (1.3)