Intention of German non-medical staff in preclinical emergency and rescue medicine to graduate from an academic programme in emergency paramedics: a structural equation analysis based on the theory of planned behaviour of Icek Ajzen.

Abstract

According to the theory of planned behaviour, a real behaviour that a person thinks about is best predicted by a certain intention (behavioural intention). Until now there is little known about the intention of German non-medical staff in preclinical emergency and rescue medicine to study emergency paramedics. For the verification of the data of 1.585 non-medical staff in preclinical emergency and rescue medicine from all 16 federal states of Germany collected by questionnaires, a linear structural equation model (SEM) was presented by means of inference statistical quality criteria (fit model) and evaluated by IBM SPSS Amos Grad Pack V.24.0. A complete causal model (SEM) with four measurement models (four-factor solution) could be created by using a path diagram. The measurement models of the present SEM should be investigated in further studies (Quality: root mean square error of approximation 0.121 and χ²/df 24.273). The results obtained in this study confirm positive intention of non-medical staff in preclinical emergency and rescue medicine to graduate from an undergraduate degree course in emergency paramedics. Personal behaviour as well as management should be critically debated, as far as an intention to study to become an emergency paramedic is concerned.