Social Marketing

Improving the rate of bystander CPR in deprived communities: a development study.

This Chief Scientist Office Study is in collaboration with Dr Fiona Dobbie and colleagues at the Institute for Social Marketing UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport, University of Stirling. 

Those in the most deprived quintile of the population (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 1) are twice as likely to suffer an OHCA, but 43% less likely to survive compared with those who are least deprived. The most important modifiable factor affecting survival is cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) by a bystander (i.e. someone who is not part of an emergency response team). Bystander CPR more than doubles the likelihood of survival, but occurs only around 40% of the time, and least often in the SIMD 1 quintile. In 2015 the Scottish Government launched Scotland’s OHCA strategy with a key aim to improve survival by increasing rates of bystander CPR. This development study will contribute to that aim by designing an evidence based intervention to improve the rate of bystander CPR in deprived areas using a social marketing framework (applying commercial marketing tools to create health behaviour change) and social network theory. Research design includes a systematic review and a range of qualitative methods with key partners and stakeholders.