Background
Choking is a life-threatening emergency which requires treatment as soon as possible. Several different choking treatments are taught in first aid courses, including abdominal thrusts, back blows, and chest compressions/thrusts. Suction devices are also available to purchase by the public.
Choking treatment needs to occur before paramedics arrive, so bystanders are crucial to saving a choking person’s life. In Alberta, about 35% of all choking injuries are children who are first treated by their parents or caregivers. Despite treatment guidelines remaining unchanged for some time, there is a large variety in how parents/caregivers respond when their child chokes. Our study aims to explore parents’/caregivers’ experiences to answer the questions:

• Under what circumstances, in what respects, and why do parents or adult caregivers in Alberta choose specific treatments for a conscious choking child?
• What is their experience using different choking treatments?

By learning more about how well the different treatments work, how safe they are to use, and how easy they are to apply, we believe that we can improve how we respond to choking injuries, and improve patient outcomes.

Roles and Responsibilities
We are seeking a parent or caregiver who has responded to a choking injury for their child or who cares for a child at increased risk of choking to help provide the research team with valuable context throughout our study.
Specific roles would include:

• Theory development: Attend a brainstorming session to identify potential factors that may influence why and how parents/caregivers respond to choking emergencies. The patient partner will participate in this process to provide their insights into the theory generation
• Data collection: Review the interview guide once developed to ensure it captures the essence of our inquiry in an acceptable and understandable manner for other parents/caregivers
• Data analysis and interpretation: Review transcripts of parent/caregiver interviews to help identify factors which support or refute our initial theories
• Knowledge translation: Help develop plain language summaries of our results targeting parents/caregivers

Training will be provided as needed at various stages of research. The patient partner should be comfortable with email communication, and word document processing software (e.g., Microsoft Word).

Time Commitment
The proposed project is planned to occur over a year (Aug/Sept 2025 – Aug/Sept 2026)

• Anticipated involvement will include
  • Initial brainstorming session and final theory development session (either virtual or in-person at University of Calgary) ~ 2 hours each
  • Review of interview guide and provide suggestions/recommendations (~1-2 hours, virtual on their own time, Aug/Sept 2025)
  •  Review of transcripts to help develop data outputs (Variable opportunity to be involved depending on the patient partner’s interest)

Compensation/Reimbursement
There is a $125 honorarium available for collaboration in the brainstorming sessions, and review of the interview guide. If the brainstorming sessions occur in-person, parking costs will also be covered.
If the patient partner is also interested in assisting with reviewing the interview transcripts and helping form the data outputs, they will also be included as a co-author on the manuscript, as well as included on all dissemination outputs. Unfortunately, at this time there is no additional funding for patient partner compensation for this part.

For more information or to apply
Cody Dunne
cody.dunne@ucalgary.ca