Knowledge and Attitude towards Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation among Community Members in Selected Communities of Obio/Akpor Lga, Rivers State, Nigeria

The survival chances of an out of hospital cardiac arrest are significantly increased by provision of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Early bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation has been documented as one of the most important predictors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests survival. The study was designed to assess the knowledge and attitude towards cardiopulmonary resuscitation among community members in three selected communities in Obio-Akpor, Rivers State. Cross sectional descriptive design utilizing mixed method was adopted. A total of 427 participants were selected by purposive sampling. Structured questionnaire was utilized to assess community members “knowledge on cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. Mean score was determined and mean scores and above was categorized as good knowledge while below mean scores was categorized as poor knowledge. To access the attitude towards cardiopulmonary resuscitation, mean score was determined and mean scores and above was categorized as positive attitude while below mean scores was categorized as negative attitude. The data was analyzed using descriptive analysis and inferential statistics of chi- square to test the set hypothesis at p ≤0.05. Most occurring age group of the respondents were between 31-40 years and 50.5% are single. The findings on knowledge of CPR from this study revealed that 59.8% had poor knowledge while 40.2% had good knowledge of CPR. Overall, 58.5% had negative attitude towards administering CPR while 41.5% of the community members had positive attitude towards administering CPR to out of hospital cardiac arrest victims. There is a significant association between sex, marital status, level of education, occupation and knowledge on CPR as well as marital status and attitude towards CPR. Also, there is statistically significant association between knowledge on CPR and attitude towards CPR.