A nationwide survey of CPR training in Sweden: foreign born and unemployed are not reached by training programmes.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the number of CPR trained adults in Sweden, and the willingness of the non-trained population to attend a CPR course. An additional purpose was to investigate differences related to sex, age, residential area, socio-economic classification and country of origin.


METHODS
Five thousand adults in Sweden were surveyed, which yielded 3167 valid responses, a response rate of 63%. The sample was selected at random and stratified to correlate to the geographic distribution of the population.


RESULTS
The mean (S.D.) age was 46 (16) years, 54% of the respondents were females and 11% were people of foreign origin. Forty-five percent had participated in some form of CPR training. Younger respondents, those living in rural areas, those born in Sweden, employees, students and military conscripts were trained more frequently in CPR. Of the respondents with no CPR training, 50% expressed a willingness to attend a course. The most common reason for not being trained in CPR was that the respondent did not know such courses existed or that they did not know where to go for training.


CONCLUSIONS
Somewhere between 30 and 45% of the adult population of Sweden had participated in CPR training. Half of the non-trained population was willing to learn CPR but frequently did not know that such courses existed or where they were held. Elderly people, people of foreign origin, or those not included in the workforce were less likely to have participated in CPR training.
Axelsson
Asa B
AB
Institute of Nursing, Faculty of Health Caring Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy, Göteborg University, P.O. Box 457, SE 405 30 Göteborg, Sweden. asa.axelsson@fhs.gu.se
Herlitz
Johan
J
Holmberg
Stig
S
Thorén
Ann-Britt
AB
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000193:education* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003625:Data Collection; D004505:Education, Nonprofessional / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden; D014478:Unemployment