Assessing CPR training: The willingness of teaching credential candidates to provide CPR in a school setting

The study explores the anticipated willingness of teacher credential candidates at one California public university in the U.S. to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or foreign body airway obstruction (FBAO) skills in a school setting. Objectives included (1) identifying reasons that credential candidates would elect or decline to perform CPR, (2) assisting schools to remediate cardiac/respiratory emergency preparedness, and (3) assessing CPR training courses to determine how they may influence teachers' willingness to perform CPR.

Participants included 582 teacher credential candidates, who were 95.2% of those surveyed after completion of a health science course and CPR certification. Participants described their attitudes regarding the importance of CPR, the CPR training course, and their willingness to perform CPR in a school environment.

Based upon chi-square analysis, an association was found between the willingness to perform CPR and the presence of any one concern regarding training, with 68.6% of those expressing concerns willing to perform CPR compared to 81.9% of those expressing no concerns (p<.0005). Participants certified multiple times stated that they were more likely to perform FBAO skills on both conscious (89% vs. 78.9%, p=.025) and unconscious victims (80% vs. 72%, p<.001), as were participants who believed CPR to be an important skill for teachers (76.9% vs. 43.5%, p<.001). Males were more likely to express willingness to perform CPR than females (84.6% vs. 72.1%, p<.001).

Attitudes regarding CPR training may influence teachers' willingness to perform CPR. Recommendations based on these findings include pedagogical changes to CPR curricula, focusing on the importance of CPR as a teacher skill and additional time for hands-on practice. Future research should include U.S. and international participants from a broader geographic area and assessment of both learning and affective outcomes.