Effects of Peer-assisted Education on the Knowledge and Performance of Nursing Students in Basic Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

Cardiac arrest outside of a hospital is a major public health concern. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an effort to protect the vital body organs (e.g., heart and lungs), which is performed based on a specific protocol. A proper CPR process depends on the acquisition of the required knowledge and skills by the resuscitator. The present study aimed to assess the effects of peer education based on the jigsaw puzzle method on the knowledge and performance of nursing students regarding basic CPR on adults. This quasi-experimental study was conducted in 2017 with a pretest-posttest design and a control group on 72 undergraduate nursing students, who were selected via census sampling from Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Iran University of Medical Sciences, Iran. The participants were divided into two groups of intervention and control (36 per each). Both groups received training on basic life support (BLS) skills conventionally, and peer-assisted education was provided to the intervention group based on the jigsaw puzzle method. The students were evaluated before, immediately after, and three months after the intervention using the modified questionnaire of knowledge and modified checklist of performance for adult BLS skills. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 22 using descriptive and inferential statistics. Compared to the control group, a statistically significant difference was observed in the knowledge of the students in the intervention and control groups immediately after (P<0.001) and three months after the intervention (P<0.001). In addition, significant differences were observed in the knowledge scores of the participants at the three intervals (P<0.001). Compared to the control group, the performance of the students in the intervention group significantly increased immediately after (P<0.001) and three months after the intervention (P<0.001). Moreover, significant differences were observed in the performance scores of the participants at the three intervals (P<0.001). According to the results, peer-assisted CPR training could enhance the knowledge and performance of nursing students regarding CPR. This study emphasizes on the importance of implementing peer-assisted education based on the jigsaw puzzle for all students.