When Young People Step In
Understanding the impact on 11-18 year olds of doing CPR
Explore
Why This Matters
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) can help people survive when their heart stops (cardiac arrest). Young people can learn how to do CPR in school. We didn’t know what young people do, what they think, and how they feel when they do CPR in real life.
Researchers from King’s College London, Oxford University and the University of Warwick and people with lived experience of cardiac arrest, CPR and training asked young people to share their stories through in-depth interviews. We talked to 12 young people who had done CPR on a friend, family member, or a stranger when they were 11-18 years old.
The Journey
2. The Moment
3. After
1. Training
Click each stage to learn more
1. Training
CPR lessons focus on technique and young people valued the training.
But, training didn’t focus on the real-life emotions and pressures.
Many young people felt CPR seemed “unlikely” ever to happen, so training didn’t always feel real.
2. The Moment
2. The Moment
Some froze, some went on autopilot, and others felt the weight of responsibility.
“It’s impossible to prepare for.”
Helping at or witnessing a cardiac arrest can be scary and emotional.
Every situation is different – who collapses, where it happens, and who else is there.
3. After
3. After
Acting in the moment often changed how they saw themselves: more confident, responsible, and capable.
The experience always stays with you, whether that outcome was good or bad.
Whether you are bereaved or not after doing CPR, support is vital. Help came both formally (schools, counsellors) and informally (friends, family).
Young people spoke of shock, flashbacks, triggers, and new perspectives on life and death.
All young people said they’d want to help again
Reassurance from healthcare professionals at the scene can help young people to deal with feelings of self-doubt or having done something wrong.
Conclusion
What Young People Want Others to Know
Young people need:
Education that prepares them for CPR in real life.
Understanding of how they might feel and respond.
Someone they can talk to about their experience.
Reassurance from a healthcare professional at a cardiac arrest.
Remember: it’s ok not to be ok after doing CPR.
Organisations involved with the study
About the study
Get support
The research is funded by the NIHR. The views expressed are those of the research team and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department for Health and Social Care.
“The thought that I can't let him die. It happened in front of me – I’d feel like it was my fault if I didn’t try anything. So, it was just,‘I've got to keep him alive.”
“It was definitely a mix of emotions. I can’t say one thing, like I was scared or I was happy. It was just such a rollercoaster – because when the ambulance crew came, the relief we felt, we felt that the responsibility was off our shoulders and with professionals.”
We did in-depth qualitative interviews with 12 young people who did CPR when someone's heart stopped beating. We analysed the interview data using a method called reflexive thematic analysis. The themes show what we found across the interviews. The research team included researchers with experience or working as healthcare professionals from 3 universities, a young person who witnessed a cardiac arrest, someone who had a cardiac arrest and a teacher with experience of educating young people and getting CPR training included on the curriculum. A Young Persons Advisory Group (YPAG: Kent, Surrey and Sussex) helped shape the research by advising the team on our interview topics, how to work with young people, reviewing what we found and advising on how to share the findings. The research is funded by the NIHR. The views expressed are those of the research team and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department for Health and Social Care.
Training didn’t prepare young people for the realities of: Where a cardiac arrest might happen - training in a calm hall is different to a packed train or public place or in your home where people are screaming. Who you might be doing CPR on - someone you don’t know versus someone you love. How physically demanding it would be - doing CPR on a mannequin is different to a real person when you are under stress. How you are emotionally at the time - it’s often a stressful and scary situation, and it’s hard to predict how you might feel or respond. What might happen afterwards - will a person die or not?
“I think having actual experience is totally different to training. Yeah, it's a lot different.[...]I think no one's ever going to be totally prepared to do it on a real person.
“I think I was just in shock. It is something you hear about. You don't expect someone to collapse in front of you or you to be the one to do CPR.”
“Looking back, I definitely do feel proud in the 18-year-old me because I feel like that is a very brave thing to do, given I wasn’t confident or trained or I didn’t have anything of a medical background, nothing like that.”
“It's almost like I could have needed someone to just be like, ‘Are you okay?’ Or the ambulance crew being like, ‘Are you okay? You can do this if you are feeling sad about it’. It almost felt like I couldn't be not okay because I was the one who was okay and, actually, he was the one in hospital, if you know what I mean.”
“I think if I saw someone else collapse and have a cardiac arrest, that I would give it my all again, because I wouldn't want someone to go through anything worse than what I went through. Having done it, I think it's changed my view and I think, yeah, I would work harder now than before.”
“Looking back, I think what would have been most helpful was to sort of alleviate the guilt of the ‘what ifs’ that had been in the back of my mind the whole time – there’s nothing wrong if you administer CPR and sort of don’t manage to ‘make it work’.”
“I was on a walk with my friend, it was around evening hours, and we found someone in the park, just lying sort of leaning over. We were concerned about the person, so we walked up.[...]No one talks about finding someone, I don’t know, in a dangerous area of the park. You more or less think, all right, someone’s on the tube, someone feels faint, goes into cardiac arrest, there are tonnes of people around, they are going to be very amenable to helping and all that. You’re not going to be alone.”
“In school, it felt like the scenario that we were taught – it was always ‘Check for danger.’ But you don’t check for danger in your own home. So, it always feels like it's going to be more of a dramatic public scenario than something so private, like a conversation between me and my dad that just turned into him collapsing and having a cardiac arrest.”
“It was just after the football, the train was absolutely packed. So, it was just one of those ones where like if you could pick a worse situation to have it in, enclosed space, very packed, family watching, warm day, kind of stuck between two stations, you couldn't have probably imagined a worse situation.[...]Purely by the fact that it was busy and it was crowded, that was not ideal. But it’s just one of those things – you have to adapt to the situation and think, ‘Right, we need to do the same as we would in training, but just…
On the train from football
Walking in the park
At home with family
Click the cards above to learn more
“It was actually my best friend who said to me, 'I don't need you to take this the wrong way, but you're going to need counselling. You're going to need therapy after this.' And then when my mum kind of came round a little bit, she suggested that I go and have counselling, and I agreed with both of them.”
“I just remember being really, really scared, yeah, lots of negative emotions” “I was shaking, I was screaming and crying”
“Deep down, every time I'm on the edge of the pool, I just remember this event. It is kind of scarring, because I remember the event so clearly, like when it happened and how it happened. Every time I'm near a pool I just remember him and remember what happened. Even if someone else is like on the edge, even though they know how to swim and everything, I just panic for a split second. Do you know what I'm trying to say? Like it traumatised me to some level, but not in a harmful way–it's just like a memory that keeps hitting me sometimes.”
“I just try to, you know, appreciate things that are happening and not like plan too far ahead - because I used to have a habit of doing that and now I’m just like, you know, anything can happen at any moment. If I argue with someone, I try not to leave on a bad note, in case something happens to them.[...]I would say that’s more of a positive in a way, and also it just made me try to connect with people around me more.”
“I was thinking about my [family member] and I had so many flashbacks, like,‘Could I have done something different? Should I have done this? Should I have said this? Could I have stopped it?’Which was silly. I remember thinking,‘Could I have stopped it from happening?’All of this was taking up so much mental space that I couldn't think about my A levels*. It was just worrying about not thinking about them.” *A levels are exams that young people take between the ages of 17-18.
Flashbacks
Triggers
New Perspectives
Click the cards above to learn more
“It’s kind of something that will probably stick out to me forever.[...]It’s like a baptism of fire, really.”
“I’d recommend it [CPR training] because it won't be as much of a shock. Because you’ll know what to do and you don’t have to be afraid to do it.”
There are different ways you can get extra support.
You can find support and resources from Suden Cardiac Arrest UK.
You can talk to your GP, or a teacher you trust at school.
There is information about NHS mental health support for young people from the NHS.
When Young People Step In
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Transcript
When Young People Step In
Understanding the impact on 11-18 year olds of doing CPR
Explore
Why This Matters
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) can help people survive when their heart stops (cardiac arrest). Young people can learn how to do CPR in school. We didn’t know what young people do, what they think, and how they feel when they do CPR in real life.
Researchers from King’s College London, Oxford University and the University of Warwick and people with lived experience of cardiac arrest, CPR and training asked young people to share their stories through in-depth interviews. We talked to 12 young people who had done CPR on a friend, family member, or a stranger when they were 11-18 years old.
The Journey
2. The Moment
3. After
1. Training
Click each stage to learn more
1. Training
CPR lessons focus on technique and young people valued the training.
But, training didn’t focus on the real-life emotions and pressures.
Many young people felt CPR seemed “unlikely” ever to happen, so training didn’t always feel real.
2. The Moment
2. The Moment
Some froze, some went on autopilot, and others felt the weight of responsibility.
“It’s impossible to prepare for.”
Helping at or witnessing a cardiac arrest can be scary and emotional.
Every situation is different – who collapses, where it happens, and who else is there.
3. After
3. After
Acting in the moment often changed how they saw themselves: more confident, responsible, and capable.
The experience always stays with you, whether that outcome was good or bad.
Whether you are bereaved or not after doing CPR, support is vital. Help came both formally (schools, counsellors) and informally (friends, family).
Young people spoke of shock, flashbacks, triggers, and new perspectives on life and death.
All young people said they’d want to help again
Reassurance from healthcare professionals at the scene can help young people to deal with feelings of self-doubt or having done something wrong.
Conclusion
What Young People Want Others to Know
Young people need:
Education that prepares them for CPR in real life.
Understanding of how they might feel and respond.
Someone they can talk to about their experience.
Reassurance from a healthcare professional at a cardiac arrest.
Remember: it’s ok not to be ok after doing CPR.
Organisations involved with the study
About the study
Get support
The research is funded by the NIHR. The views expressed are those of the research team and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department for Health and Social Care.
“The thought that I can't let him die. It happened in front of me – I’d feel like it was my fault if I didn’t try anything. So, it was just,‘I've got to keep him alive.”
“It was definitely a mix of emotions. I can’t say one thing, like I was scared or I was happy. It was just such a rollercoaster – because when the ambulance crew came, the relief we felt, we felt that the responsibility was off our shoulders and with professionals.”
We did in-depth qualitative interviews with 12 young people who did CPR when someone's heart stopped beating. We analysed the interview data using a method called reflexive thematic analysis. The themes show what we found across the interviews. The research team included researchers with experience or working as healthcare professionals from 3 universities, a young person who witnessed a cardiac arrest, someone who had a cardiac arrest and a teacher with experience of educating young people and getting CPR training included on the curriculum. A Young Persons Advisory Group (YPAG: Kent, Surrey and Sussex) helped shape the research by advising the team on our interview topics, how to work with young people, reviewing what we found and advising on how to share the findings. The research is funded by the NIHR. The views expressed are those of the research team and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department for Health and Social Care.
Training didn’t prepare young people for the realities of: Where a cardiac arrest might happen - training in a calm hall is different to a packed train or public place or in your home where people are screaming. Who you might be doing CPR on - someone you don’t know versus someone you love. How physically demanding it would be - doing CPR on a mannequin is different to a real person when you are under stress. How you are emotionally at the time - it’s often a stressful and scary situation, and it’s hard to predict how you might feel or respond. What might happen afterwards - will a person die or not?
“I think having actual experience is totally different to training. Yeah, it's a lot different.[...]I think no one's ever going to be totally prepared to do it on a real person.
“I think I was just in shock. It is something you hear about. You don't expect someone to collapse in front of you or you to be the one to do CPR.”
“Looking back, I definitely do feel proud in the 18-year-old me because I feel like that is a very brave thing to do, given I wasn’t confident or trained or I didn’t have anything of a medical background, nothing like that.”
“It's almost like I could have needed someone to just be like, ‘Are you okay?’ Or the ambulance crew being like, ‘Are you okay? You can do this if you are feeling sad about it’. It almost felt like I couldn't be not okay because I was the one who was okay and, actually, he was the one in hospital, if you know what I mean.”
“I think if I saw someone else collapse and have a cardiac arrest, that I would give it my all again, because I wouldn't want someone to go through anything worse than what I went through. Having done it, I think it's changed my view and I think, yeah, I would work harder now than before.”
“Looking back, I think what would have been most helpful was to sort of alleviate the guilt of the ‘what ifs’ that had been in the back of my mind the whole time – there’s nothing wrong if you administer CPR and sort of don’t manage to ‘make it work’.”
“I was on a walk with my friend, it was around evening hours, and we found someone in the park, just lying sort of leaning over. We were concerned about the person, so we walked up.[...]No one talks about finding someone, I don’t know, in a dangerous area of the park. You more or less think, all right, someone’s on the tube, someone feels faint, goes into cardiac arrest, there are tonnes of people around, they are going to be very amenable to helping and all that. You’re not going to be alone.”
“In school, it felt like the scenario that we were taught – it was always ‘Check for danger.’ But you don’t check for danger in your own home. So, it always feels like it's going to be more of a dramatic public scenario than something so private, like a conversation between me and my dad that just turned into him collapsing and having a cardiac arrest.”
“It was just after the football, the train was absolutely packed. So, it was just one of those ones where like if you could pick a worse situation to have it in, enclosed space, very packed, family watching, warm day, kind of stuck between two stations, you couldn't have probably imagined a worse situation.[...]Purely by the fact that it was busy and it was crowded, that was not ideal. But it’s just one of those things – you have to adapt to the situation and think, ‘Right, we need to do the same as we would in training, but just…
On the train from football
Walking in the park
At home with family
Click the cards above to learn more
“It was actually my best friend who said to me, 'I don't need you to take this the wrong way, but you're going to need counselling. You're going to need therapy after this.' And then when my mum kind of came round a little bit, she suggested that I go and have counselling, and I agreed with both of them.”
“I just remember being really, really scared, yeah, lots of negative emotions” “I was shaking, I was screaming and crying”
“Deep down, every time I'm on the edge of the pool, I just remember this event. It is kind of scarring, because I remember the event so clearly, like when it happened and how it happened. Every time I'm near a pool I just remember him and remember what happened. Even if someone else is like on the edge, even though they know how to swim and everything, I just panic for a split second. Do you know what I'm trying to say? Like it traumatised me to some level, but not in a harmful way–it's just like a memory that keeps hitting me sometimes.”
“I just try to, you know, appreciate things that are happening and not like plan too far ahead - because I used to have a habit of doing that and now I’m just like, you know, anything can happen at any moment. If I argue with someone, I try not to leave on a bad note, in case something happens to them.[...]I would say that’s more of a positive in a way, and also it just made me try to connect with people around me more.”
“I was thinking about my [family member] and I had so many flashbacks, like,‘Could I have done something different? Should I have done this? Should I have said this? Could I have stopped it?’Which was silly. I remember thinking,‘Could I have stopped it from happening?’All of this was taking up so much mental space that I couldn't think about my A levels*. It was just worrying about not thinking about them.” *A levels are exams that young people take between the ages of 17-18.
Flashbacks
Triggers
New Perspectives
Click the cards above to learn more
“It’s kind of something that will probably stick out to me forever.[...]It’s like a baptism of fire, really.”
“I’d recommend it [CPR training] because it won't be as much of a shock. Because you’ll know what to do and you don’t have to be afraid to do it.”
There are different ways you can get extra support.
You can find support and resources from Suden Cardiac Arrest UK.
You can talk to your GP, or a teacher you trust at school.
There is information about NHS mental health support for young people from the NHS.