Knowledge and willingness of schoolteachers in Jordan to perform CPR: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) knowledge and willingness of schoolteachers in Jordan. DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional study conducted using an online questionnaire. SETTING: For inclusion in this study, schoolteachers must be currently teaching at any level in schools across the country. Responses were collected from 1 April 2021 to 30 April 2021. PARTICIPANTS: All schoolteachers actively working in public or private schools were included in our study. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Continuous variables were summarised as means and SD, whereas categorical variables were reported as frequencies and percentages (%). A χ(2) test for independence, independent sample t-tests and analysis of variance were used appropriately. A p-value less than 0.05 was used to determine statistical significance. RESULTS: A total of 385 questionnaires were eligible for analyses. Only 14.5% of the participants received CPR training and overall correct knowledge answers were 18.8% of the total score. Those participants with previous CPR training had higher mean knowledge scores (2.34 vs 1.15, p<0.001). Trained participants were also more likely to provide hands-only CPR to various patient groups than untrained participants (p<0.05). Participants were more willing to provide standard CPR to family members than hands-only CPR (p<0.001), but more willing to provide hands-only CPR to friends (p<0.001), students (75.1% vs 58.2%, p<0.001), neighbour (p<0.001), stranger (p=0.001) and patient from the opposite gender (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Schoolteachers in Jordan possess limited knowledge of CPR. However, the study participants showed a positive attitude towards performing CPR. The study revealed that they were more inclined to provide hands-only CPR than standard CPR. Policymakers and public health officials can take advantage of these findings to incorporate CPR training programmes for schoolteachers, either as a part of their undergraduate studies or as continuing education programmes with an emphasis on hands-only CPR.