A telephone survey on the attitude and knowledge of the Hong Kong public towards cardiopulmonary resuscitation

Abstract

<b>Objective:</b> To explore Hong Kong public’s attitude and knowledge towards cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

<b>Methods:</b> A cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted in May 2010. Hong Kong residents aged 15 to 64 who can communicate in Cantonese were invited for interview.

<b>Results:</b> Among the 1013 successfully interviewed participants (response rate = 46.3%), 178 (17.6%) participants had families having heart disease. At emergency, only 514 (50.7%) participants would perform CPR for their family members at home and 807 (79.7%) participants were unwilling to perform CPR for cardiac arrest victims in the street. The overall CPR knowledge was inadequate (mean = 1.68, 0 = lowest and 8 = highest). Those who had CPR training had significantly better knowledge about CPR (mean = 3.45) than those who had not (mean = 1.21; P < 0.001). Among the 799 (78.9%) untrained participants, their main reasons for not taking CPR training were ‘no time’ (40.9%), ‘not necessary’ (26.5%) and ‘not interested’ (18.7%). For the 214 (21.1%) trained participants, the common reasons for taking CPR were ‘job requirement’ (47.7%) and ‘personal interest’ (42.1%). Participants with middle (Form 4–7/ technical institute) (OR = 2.31 (1.50–3.57), p < 0.001) to higher level of education (college or above) (OR = 2.68 (1.71–4.21), p < 0.001) were significantly associated with having CPR training.

<b>Conclusion:</b> Promotional activities such as video show or campaign to increase public awareness of CPR training to save lives are necessary. The public especially family members of heart disease patients’ should be encouraged to learn CPR. A standardized, widespread community based CPR training program with recertification system incorporate to secondary/college curriculum as general education is recommended.