Beliefs of health professionals and teachers about basic life support in secondary education

Health education in schools should include basic life support (BLS), since cardiac arrest is a significant health issue globally. This study investigated whether the beliefs of health professionals and secondary teachers about teaching cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the use of external defibrillators (AED) might be related to the widespread lack of implementation of this training in the classroom across European Union countries. An ex post facto survey was carried out involving 281 participants in two groups: 145 health professionals and 136 teachers. The complexity hypothesis was defined for the following dimensions: conceptualisation of BLS, identification of the target population, didactic transposition and the role of the teacher. A univariate statistical analysis was carried out and logistic and multiple linear regression were applied. The differences in the characterization of BLS between both groups were confirmed (p = 0.016) and a model was developed (R2 = 0.592) in which the conception that the teachers of the center are the ones who should teach BLS to the students (F = 6.373; p < 0.001) was correlated with the consideration that semi-automatic external defibrillation is a technique included in BLS (p = 0.005), in addition to correlation with the following factors: specialty, age, and willingness to provide training. In conclusion, there were differences in the way health professionals and teachers characterised BLS and its teaching; however, neither notion seems to favour CPR training and AED use in secondary education. This could lead to a rethinking of current training strategies.