<![CDATA[Rapid and accurate triage is essential in disaster response because victim classification determines the priority of evacuation and life-saving treatment. However, community disaster volunteers often have limited opportunities to practice triage under realistic conditions. This study examined the effect of simulation-based START (Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment) triage training on the speed and accuracy of disaster victim classification among Tagana personnel in Sukabumi City, Indonesia. A pre-experimental one-group pretest-post-test design was used. Thirty-one Tagana personnel participated in a three-day START triage simulation program. Data were collected through participatory observation using five disaster-victim case scenarios. The observation checklist assessed whether each participant classified victims within the START time standard of less than 60 seconds and whether the color-coded triage decision was accurate. Descriptive statistics, Shapiro-Wilk normality tests, and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to analyze the data. The mean speed score increased from 58.71 before training to 98.06 after training, while the mean accuracy score increased from 40.00 to 84.52. Before training, only 29.0% of participants reached the good category for speed and 25.8% reached the good category for accuracy. After the simulation, all participants reached the good category for both outcomes. Wilcoxon testing showed significant improvements in speed (Z = -4.849, p < .001, r = .871) and accuracy (Z = -4.842, p < .001, r = .870). These findings indicate that simulation-based START training can substantially strengthen the practical triage competence of community disaster volunteers. The program is recommended as a recurring capacity-building strategy for Tagana and other non-medical disaster-response volunteers.]]>
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