Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Oct 6, 2020
Date Accepted: Nov 15, 2020
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Evolution of Bystander Intention to Perform Resuscitation Since Last Training: a Web-Based Survey
ABSTRACT
Background:
Victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) have higher survival rates and more favorable neurological outcomes when basic life support (BLS) maneuvers are initiated quickly after collapse. Despite these significant benefits, and though more than half of OHCA are witnessed, BLS is infrequently provided. According to the theory of planned behavior, the probability of executing an action is strongly linked to the intention of performing it. We hypothesized that there could be a decrease in the intention of performing resuscitation even shortly after the last BLS training session.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to measure the variation over time of the three dimensions of the intention to perform resuscitation: attitude, subjective normative beliefs, and control beliefs.
Methods:
The two largest companies delivering first aid courses in the region of Geneva, Switzerland, sent invitation e-mails on our behalf to people who had followed a first aid course in the last five years. Participants were asked to answer a set of 17 psychometric questions designed to assess each dimension of the intention to perform resuscitation. The primary outcome was the change in each dimension at 6 months. Secondary outcomes were the change in each dimension at one and two years and the change regarding each individual question at 6 months, one year and two years.
Results:
Out of 270 completed surveys, 204 (76%) were analyzed. Control beliefs was the only dimension that displayed a significant change at 6 months (P < .001). Participants who had followed their last BLS course more than 6 months ago were however more prone to diffusion of responsibility, a key element of subjective normative beliefs (P = .001). Fear of legal action was higher in participants who had followed their last BLS course more than 2 years ago (P = .04).
Conclusions:
Control belief, a dimension of the intention to perform resuscitation, rapidly decreases after the last first aid course. Short interventions should be designed to restore this dimension to its immediate post-course state. This could enhance the provision of BLS maneuvers in case of OHCA.
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