Skip to main content
Summit 2023 Main banner
Back

Concurrent Block #1

Resuscitation Education

Mental Techniques to Enhance CPR Education

At War for Hearts: How the Self-Determination Theory Can Be Used To Motivate The Next Generation Of Citizen Responders

Thursday, November 30, 2023
11:05 AM – 11:20 AM PST
Location: Town and Country Ballroom D

    Primary Presenter(s)

  • Nathan A. Harig, BA, MA, NREMT-P

    Assistant Chief of Administration
    Cumberland Goodwill EMS
    Carlisle, PA, United States

    Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose

    • Moderator(s)

  • Jennifer Russell, MBA (she/her/hers)

    Director of Operations
    Advanced Coronary Treatment (ACT) Foundation of Canada Inc.
    Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Disclosure information not submitted.

Disclosure(s):
Nathan A. Harig, BA, MA, NREMT-P: No financial relationships to disclose
Summary: How do you motivate soldiers to fight a war? Why do strangers help someone in Cardiac Arrest? These two questions seem unrelated, but research on human motivation in both cases can be adapted to help responders, bystanders, and survivors.

Synopsis: Over the past decade, our understanding of psychological trauma responses has grown, thanks in large part to research coming out of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Additionally, new theories based on the Self-Determination Theory (SDT), which is based on understanding motivation as 3 psychological needs of competence, relatedness, and autonomy, are being explored in the military community as explanations for soldier motivation. Adapting this to the civilian world, this presentation suggests incorporation of SDT into CPR training and advocacy, as well as a discussion of how we as responders can cater to the psychological needs of bystanders and patients who have experienced a cardiac arrest and motivate communities to build a motivated core of citizen responders. It culminates with a discussion over the development of a Cardiac Arrest Aftercare brochure that the presenter developed in 2022.

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe three ways your outreach efforts can incorporate an understanding of human motivation to build a more engaged response community.
  • List three emotional challenges you think arise after bystander CPR is handed off to a first responder.
  • This presentation will include ways to educate citizens that can lead to a comprehensive change to a culture of excellence and improved CPR training in the community, schools and workplace.
  • This presentation will describe three (3) strategies for implementing effective support systems for cardiac arrest victims, survivors and their families and rescuers.