The Effect of an Educational Intervention Program on the Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Allied Health Students with Regard to Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
Authors:   Al-Balqa Applied University, Irbid University College, Irbid, Jordan, Etoom Mohammad , Alnjadat Rafi , Al-Momani Eshraq , Abu-ALrub Salwa 
Published: July 2024

Background: Cardiac arrest is the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Early intervention with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can effectively save lives. Allied health students must possess the essential information, attitudes, and skills necessary for CPR to prepare for their future roles within the medical community. Purpose: This paper aims to examine the effect of an educational intervention program on the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of allied health students regarding cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Methods: A quasiexperimental research methodology; namely, a one-group pretest-posttest design, was employed. The data collection method involved using a self-administered questionnaire, and the sample consisted of 450 allied health students recruited through the convenience sampling method. The educational intervention program was implemented from 5 November 2023 to 5 February 2024. A valid, reliable questionnaire consisting of 34 items was used to examine the effect of an educational intervention program. The adapted questionnaire was developed based on the guidelines of the European Resuscitation Council (ERC, 2015). This questionnaire consisted of 10 questions about knowledge, 7 about practice, and 17 about attitudes. Descriptive statistics were obtained, and inferential chi-square statistics were used for data analysis. Results: Significant differences in knowledge, attitudes, and practice levels were found after the educational intervention program in all questionnaire items (p < 0.05), except for one item (the way to rescue breaths in an infant), and the 2015 ERC guidelines concerning basic resuscitation operations (p < 0.05). Significant differences were also noted between males and females in their attitudes regarding providing chest compression (CC) to strangers (p < 0.05) despite infection concerns (p < 0.05) and providing mouth-to-mouth ventilation (MMV) to members of the other gender (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The CPR educational intervention program improves allied health students' knowledge, attitudes, and practice. The differences in the attitudes of males and females regarding providing CC to strangers despite infection concerns and regarding providing MMV to members of the other gender are significant. Therefore, these results emphasize the importance of CPR education for this group of students to maintain and promote their levels of knowledge, attitudes, and practice regarding CPR. Implications for Nursing: The present study's findings indicate that CPR instruction significantly enhances knowledge, attitude, and practice amongst students in the allied health field. Hence, the findings underscore the need to provide CPR education to this cohort of students to preserve and enhance their knowledge, attitude, and skills about CPR. The results can provide valuable insights for nurse educators, nursing managers, and decision-makers to devise successful strategies for improving CPR knowledge, attitude, and application.