Teaching basic life support to 12-16 year olds in Barcelona schools: views of head teachers

To determine the opinion of head teachers on the educational and logistical characteristics required for a basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation (b-CPR) programme for secondary school teenagers to succeed.

The study was carried out in Barcelona which has 227 public and private secondary schools. Secondary school is started at 12 years old, and finished around 16 once teenagers pass grade 4. A hypothetical b-CPR program split into two parts (concepts and training) was introduced to all Barcelona secondary school head teachers, and a 23 question survey on the programme characteristics was mailed to them three times.

One hundred out of 227 (44%) surveys were sent back: 63% from private and 37% from public secondary schools with 85% of head teachers being interested in incorporating a b-CPR programme in the school curriculum. Interested head teachers did not differ in age, sex, or kind of degree compared to their non-interested counterparts. Neither were differences found in secondary school characteristics (ownership, religious orientation, size, and neighborhood average income) of both groups of head teachers. Overall, it was considered that the programme could increase the students' self-esteem (86%), and be useful for saving lives (72%). It was also felt that both theoretical (77%) and practical classes (97%) should be given by healthcare providers. However, up to 69% thought that school teachers would be willing to give theoretical classes if trained previously. The school was identified as the best setting to perform the programme (83%), which should be given to grades 3 or 4 (97%), should last less than 5 h (83%), and should be completed within a time frame of less than 1 week (86%). The greatest programme barrier would be its cost if this was over 5-10 euro per student (55%).

In Barcelona, most secondary schools surveyed were highly interested in a b-CPR programme for their teenagers in grades 3 or 4. Teachers would prefer healthcare providers to give the programme but would be willing to teach b-CPR theory if trained previously.