Social Marketing - an approach to improve bystander CPR?

MotivationOut of hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) is a major health burden in the developed world. Its consequences could be prevented easily without expensive investments by performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Even though, the community is aware of the importance bystander CPR remains low. The aim of this study is to analyze if social marketing is an appropriate approach to facilitate its performance and reduce unnecessary deaths.MethodologyThe Austrian population was chosen to generate an understanding of the main behav-ior determinants regarding CPR performance. A self-administrated online question-naire was designed to ask about their knowledge, beliefs, traits, and motives that might influence their decision-making process and motivations to learn CPR. Most important findingsThe questionnaire was answered by 212 Austrians. The majority of the participants practiced CPR at least once. However, only approximately half feel confident enough to perform it in case of an emergency. Regular training strengthens the accessibility to the conscious mind. This increases the likelihood to act when witnessing a sudden cardiac arrest. The key to facilitating training is to ensure that the individuals have the right motivation and opportunity to practice. Social marketing can help to offer the right incentives to create an immediate benefit when participating in CPR training. For the establishment of a successful intervention in Austria, a transparent system with integration of all relevant stakeholders is fundamental.