Bystanders’ Willingness to Perform Basic Life Support and Its Relationship with Facilitative and Obstructive Factors: A Nationwide Survey in Japan

Background: The administration of basic life support (BLS) by bystanders is essential to improve the survival rates of patients who have experienced out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Although providing BLS to individuals who experience OHCA greatly improves their chances of survival, the actual implementation rate is low. Therefore, we investigated the association between bystanders’ willingness to perform BLS and facilitative/obstructive factors with the objective of identifying educational methods that would improve the likelihood of bystanders performing BLS should they encounter a patient with OHCA. Methods: The study participants included 502 male and 498 female Japanese residents (total, 1000 participants) with no experience in performing BLS and 42 male and 59 female Japanese residents (total 101 participants) with experience in performing BLS. The participants were aged 15–65 years. Both groups graded the strength of their willingness to perform BLS in the future on a 4-point scale, as well as their level of agreement with factors facilitating or obstructing their willingness to perform BLS. These factors were established based on the theory of helping behavior, which defines psychological states when helping others in social psychology.We then analyzed the associations between willingness to perform BLS in the future and their level of agreement with factors facilitating or obstructing their willingness to perform BLS. Results: The willingness to perform BLS decreased in accordance with the increase in the level of intervention required for patients who experienced OHCA , and was significantly associated with four facilitating factors: sufficient ability and experience to perform BLS, personal advantage, high personal norms, and psychological closeness to the patient. Conclusion: Our results suggested that workshops and other educational activities focused on these facilitative factors may be helpful in increasing the rate at which bystanders perform BLS.