Evaluation of Awareness, Knowledge, and Attitude Toward Basic Life Support Among the General Population in Saudi Arabia: A Nationwide Survey

Background Basic life support (BLS) is the key component in changing the outcome from death to survival when cardiac arrest occurs. It involves providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and utilizing an automated external defibrillator (AED) to help restore the normal cardiac rhythm. By equipping more individuals with BLS training, it will enhance community preparedness and public health. Aim This study aimed to evaluate the general population's awareness, knowledge, and attitude toward BLS in Saudi Arabia. Subject and methods This cross-sectional study was conducted among the Saudi general population covering all five main regions in Saudi Arabia (Central, Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern). A self-administered questionnaire was sent through volunteer data collectors in every area in which they live to the population using a Google (Google, Inc., Mountain View, CA) survey. The questionnaire includes socio-demographic characteristics (i.e., age, gender, region of residence, etc.) to assess the awareness, knowledge, and attitude toward BLS using a 20-item questionnaire based on the American Heart Association (AHA). Results Of the 992 participants, 615 (62%) were females, and 325 were aged between 26 and 35 years (32.8%). Four hundred eleven participants (41.4%) attended training related to BLS. The most common source of training information was a resuscitation society course (51.8%), followed by the university curriculum (24.6%) and school (10.7%). The overall mean knowledge score was 9.64 (SD 2.92) out of 20 points. Among them, 487 (49.1%) had moderate knowledge levels, 466 (47%) were poor, and only 39 (3.9%) had good knowledge. Factors associated with increased knowledge include younger age, living outside Central Region, better education, being a healthcare worker, knowing how to give a cardiac massage, previous participation in BLS training, and witnessed of sudden death. The biggest barrier that would prevent participants from providing a cardiac massage is fear of making a mistake (63.1%). Conclusion The general population's knowledge of BLS was found to be inadequate. However, younger participants who had a better education and worked in a healthcare institution tended to be more knowledgeable about BLS than the rest of the groups. The gaps in the knowledge are evidently seen in this study. Hence, appropriate measures are needed to bridge knowledge gaps. Healthcare authorities should devise a program to deliver necessary information about the basic facts of BLS throughout the community.