Some Aspects of Population Willingness to Provide First Aid

BACKGROUND The key link in saving the life of the victim is the provision of first aid at the scene of the incident by random bystander. In order to plan measures aimed at increasing the effectiveness of first aid and reducing the mortality of victims, a clear understanding of the degree of readiness of the population to provide first aid and the factors that determine it is required. AIM OF THE STUDY To determine the level of willingness of the population to provide first aid, the factors that determine it and ways to increase the population’s readiness to provide it. MATERIAL AND METHODS In January–June 2023, a survey of workers in the fuel and energy complex of the Republic of Belarus was conducted using the developed questionnaire “Willingness to Provide First Aid”. Respondents’ participation in the survey was anonymous and voluntary. The questionnaire contained two blocks of questions: the first was thematic, the second was socio-demographic, with characteristics of the respondents. Statistical analysis was performed using the program IBM SPSS Statistics 26.0 (IBM Corporation , USA) using nonparametric statistics methods. To quantitatively describe the results of the regression analysis, odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were used. RESULTS The study involved 894 respondents without medical education. 24.9% were trained in first aid skills, 9.1% studied independently. 4.2% participated in providing first aid (carrying out cardiopulmonary resuscitation, CPR) to the victim in real conditions. 16.6% of respondents showed a high degree of readiness to provide first aid, 50.7% — average, 32.7% — low. Statistically significant predictors of high readiness to provide first aid to a victim in critical condition are: male gender (OR: 2.9; 95% CI: [1.1–7.4]; p=0.025), previous experience (OR: 2.2; 95% CI: [1.4–3.4]; p=0.000) or independent training (OR: 2.1; 95% CI: [1.1–3.9]; p=0.024) and participation in providing first aid (performing CPR) to a victim in real conditions (OR: 5.5; 95% CI: [2.6–11.6]; p=0.000). The main barriers to providing first aid to a victim in critical condition are: fear of causing irreparable harm to the victim and lack of knowledge and skills in providing first aid. CONCLUSION The study proved that the respondents’ readiness to provide first aid directly depends on its psychological and practical components. Promising areas for optimizing the existing training system may include: increasing the motivation of the population, unifying training, and creating a national electronic database for posting information materials.