AWARENESS OF CARDIOPULMONARY RESUSCITATION (CPR) AMONG UNIVERSITY OF GHANA STUDENTS AND AN ASSESSMENT OF THEIR WILLINGNESS TO PRACTICE CPR

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Sudden cardiac arrest is a gradually emerging global public health issue. Prompt

administration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) by a bystander is pivotal to improve

the already slender chances of surviving cardiac arrest which occurs outside the premises of a

health facility. In response, many nations have focused efforts on promoting CPR in the

community to increase bystander CPR. Tertiary institutions are considered ideal settings for

CPR promotion and training as the students are thought to be apt potential bystanders in the

community.

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the awareness of cardiopulmonary

resuscitation among University of Ghana students.

Methods: The design was a cross-sectional analytical study and it employed a quantitative

approach. A total of 350 students were randomly sampled from 4 halls of residence at the

University of Ghana, Legon campus. Information on demographic characteristics, previous

CPR training, CPR knowledge, willingness to practice CPR and its influencing factors were

collected through interviewer-administered questionnaire. The data were analysed using

STATA version 15 software. Awareness of CPR was assessed using descriptive statistics.

Relationships between CPR knowledge level and willingness level as dependent variables and

demographic characteristics and previous CPR training status as independent variables were

evaluated using Poisson regression and linear regression.

Results: The mean age was 21.3 years (SD=3.2), predominant age category was 20-25 years

and 54.7% of the respondents were males. Most respondents were affiliated to the college of

humanities (46.6%) and 16.9% were students from the health sciences. 16.8% respondents

lived with a family member who was suffering from a CVD. Of the 320 questionnaires that

were fully completed (response rate of 91.4%), 34.4% had no prior knowledge about CPR.

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Among those with prior knowledge of CPR, the most common sources were from movies and

TV shows (32%). Only 13.4% of the students had obtained previous CPR training, most of

which were from the college of health sciences (44.2%). The average knowledge score was

4.02 (SD = 2.2) out of a total of 10, which was considered inadequate in comparison to studies

in other countries. Students with previous CPR training had higher knowledge scores (5.2,

SD=1.8) than those without training (3.8, SD=2.2). Respondents’ attributes such as age, sex,

year of study, religion were not strong predictors of CPR knowledge score. Students had an

overall positive willingness towards CPR with 92.5% answering that they were willing to learn

CPR if the opportunity arose. However, students had some concerns about performing to

strangers due to reasons such as fear of infection, fear of causing harm and lack of confidence

(76.6%, 58.8% and 65.2% respectively). Males were more willing to perform CPR than

females (p