Attitudes towards bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation: Results from a cross-sectional general population survey

Abstract

Survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) varies across the developed world. Although not all OHCA are recoverable, the survival rate in Scotland is lower than in comparable countries, with higher average survival rates of 7.9% in England and 9% across Europe. The purpose of this paper is to explore the barriers, facilitators and public attitudes to administering bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) which could inform future policy and initiatives to improve the rate of bystander CPR. Data was collected via a cross-sectional general population survey of 1027 adults in Scotland. 52% of respondents had been trained in CPR. Of those who were not trained, two fifths (42%) expressed a willingness to receive CPR training. Fewer than half (49%) felt confident administering CPR, rising to 82% if they were talked through it by a call handler. Multivariate analyses identified that people in social grade C2DE were less likely than those in social grade ABC1 to be CPR trained and less confident to administer CPR if talked through by a call handler. The older a person was, the less likely they were to be CPR trained, show willingness to be CPR trained or be confident to administer bystander CPR with or without instruction from an emergency call handler. These findings are particularly relevant considering that most OHCA happen in the homes of older people. In a developed country such as Scotland with widely available CPR training, only half of the adult population reported feeling confident about administering bystander CPR. Further efforts tailored specifically for people who are older, unemployed and have a lower social grade are required to increase knowledge, confidence and uptake of training in bystander CPR.

Barriers to bystander CPR in deprived communities: Findings from a qualitative study

“…Becker et al (2019) [11], suggest that people living in more affluent areas are more likely to be CPR trained and, therefore, more confident to administer CPR. Studies have also shown that people with lower education, lower income and lower social grade are less likely to be trained in CPR and feel less confident to perform CPR [18,19]. For example, Dobbie et al (2018) found that people with a higher social grade were more likely to be trained in CPR than those with a lower social grade (57% compared with 48%).…”

Effects of positive dispatcher encouragement on the maintenance of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation quality

“…Bystander CPR for the treatment of pre-hospital cardiac arrest increases survival but is frequently not performed because of fear of causing injury and a lack of knowledge by those without medical training. [ 14 ] To overcome this, in Korea, delivery of CPR training throughout the population was expanded in accordance with global guidelines and DACPR has been introduced since 2012. [ 15 ] Therefore, although the bystander CPR performance rate was very low at 2.1% in 2006, [ 4 ] this rate greatly increased to 58.7% in 2017.…”

Influencing factors of telephone-cardiopulmonary resuscitation in China: a qualitative exploration based on managerial perspectives

“…Therefore, whether the public implement cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or not and the quality of CPR have a significant impact on the survival rate of OHCA patients. Because the witnesses are often non-professional medical personnel, they will not really administer effective CPR for patients with cardiac arrest because they are not confident in their own CPR skills, afraid of the implementation of mouth-to-mouth artificial respiratory infectious diseases, panic, and have not learned CPR [4][5]. So that patients miss the best time to rescue and lead to serious consequences, bringing heavy burdens to society and families.…”