Introduction: Bystanders’ immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) significantly increases survival rates for victims of sudden cardiac arrest. However, laypeople often hesitate to intervene. In Japan, the rate of bystander CPR for witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest was 59.2% in 2022. One major reason for hesitation is that laypeople do not know or cannot recall the proper steps, even when willing to assist. To address this, we created handkerchiefs depicting the steps of basic life support (BLS), including chest compressions and using an AED. This study assessed whether these illustrated handkerchiefs influence non-medical individuals’ confidence and willingness to perform BLS. Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted on October 20th at Nagoya City University West Medical Center, targeting non-medical attendees of the Reiwa 6th Annual Kita-ward Festival in Nagoya. The survey gathered demographic information (age, prior CPR training) and assessed participants’ hesitance and confidence to perform BLS using visual analog scales (VASs) before a hands-on BLS training session. After the session, participants rated their hesitance and confidence in performing BLS with and without the illustrated handkerchief. Results: Thirty-four laypeople participated in the study. The mean VAS scores for hesitance and confidence before the session were 5.1 and 3.3, respectively. Post-session, the average hesitance score significantly decreased to 2.1 with the illustrated handkerchief but remained at 5.2 without it. The average confidence score increased significantly to 7.5 with the handkerchief and 4.9 without it. Conclusion: Illustrative guides showing BLS steps effectively reduced hesitance and increased confidence among laypeople in performing BLS. Portable handkerchiefs depicting BLS steps could encourage more bystanders to provide BLS to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims.
Sasano et al. (Sun,) studied this question.