Basic Life Support Awareness, Knowledge, and Attitudes Among a Self-Selected Online Sample in the Aseer Region, Saudi Arabia: An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Survey.

Background/

Objectives

Basic life support (BLS) and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) are essential emergency interventions. This exploratory study described BLS awareness, reported training, self-assessed and objectively scored CPR knowledge, and attitudes in a self-selected online sample of adults in the Aseer Region, Saudi Arabia, and examined how these constructs related to one another; it was not designed to estimate regional prevalence.

Methods

A cross-sectional online survey (April-June 2025) used convenience recruitment through social media. The study-specific questionnaire was expert-reviewed and pilot-tested but not psychometrically validated; the five technical items (Kuder-Richardson 20 = 0.59) were analyzed individually. Analyses were primarily descriptive; comparisons, including a multivariable logistic regression, were exploratory.

Results

Of 364 respondents, 87.1% were female, 49.5% were students, and 67.9% held a bachelor's degree. Overall, 90.9% had heard of BLS, 47.3% reported CPR training, and 45.1% reported knowing how to perform CPR; 27.5% to 57.1% selected the keyed answer on individual objectively scored items. Only 20.7% of those reporting knowing how to perform CPR selected all four keyed answers. Respondents reporting CPR training selected keyed answers more often on every objectively scored item, most markedly for the 30:2 compression-to-ventilation ratio (50.6% vs. 18.2%), yet only 41.3% of them selected the "at least 100 compressions/min" option. Measured sociodemographic characteristics explained little of the variation in reported training (McFadden pseudo-R2 = 0.11).

Conclusions

In this demographically imbalanced sample, self-reported awareness and self-assessed ability to perform CPR were often not matched by objectively scored knowledge. Associations with reported training may reflect who seeks training rather than training effects, and item wording may have influenced responses. The shared dataset and identified instrument weaknesses can inform representative studies using validated measures and objective skills assessment.