PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

To reduce and address annual deaths following cardiac arrest and diseases, the implementation of basic life support (BLS) is recommended as a part of health education in schools. Its application is intended to increase life-saving bystander resuscitation rates. Although previous research reported sufficient capabilities and learn-ing success in secondary school students, the effect of starting age and gender issues remains controversial. This study investigated the practical quality of chest compressions (depth, rate, chest recoil and flow fraction) using measuring manikins in a pre-post interventional design with BLS training (N=186). Considering the lo-cal curricula (North Rhine Westphalia, Germany) which introduce the human circulatory system in sixth grade and to previous age recommendations, differences in quality achievements were analysed between young (11-13 years) and old (14-16 years) students. Furthermore, gender differences were explored. Results indicated a significant overall improvement of compression depth, rate and flow faction after intervention (for both, males and females) and no gender differences were found (p > 0.05). The young student group only per-formed better for compression depth after the intervention (p < 0.001). For implementation, independently of age and gender, BLS in health lessons leads to an improved performance outcome. Further implications will be discussed in the presentation.