Why women receive less CPR from bystanders (2018)

[MichaelCollins]

When people believe society doesn't trust them, they'll be less likely to stick their neck out for others. Even if the perception of mistrust is illusory and not backed up by any data, that perception of mistrust will still dissuade altruistic behavior.

[hprotagonist]

For the obvious and purient reason.

Semi-related reasons at least partially explain why the AHA moved away from rescue breaths as part of CPR: they found high rates of total noncompliance because people don’t want to do that. Compressions only turns out to both be fine from a perfusion perspective and also increases bystander participation. I think not taking any breaks for breaths during compressions also reduces clotting, but i’m not sure.

The other reason to not bother with rescue breathing is that AEDs are everywhere now and you’re much more likely to get pads on someone promptly.

[pilom]

Counterpoint, I'm a whitewater rescue instructor. My students and I are much more likely to see drowning victims than heart attack patients. Compression only CPR doesn't help drowning victims at all so we've had to add a "don't listen to your CPR instructor, do rescue breaths first" statement to our classes.

[AnonC]

> The other reason to not bother with rescue breathing is that AEDs are everywhere now

This is a very bold claim that needs a citation with data covering different locations and the number of devices per unit population.

[panarky]

There is nothing obviously prurient about rescue breaths. More often than not, the rescuer will get a mouth full of blood, mucus and vomit for their trouble. There is nothing lascivious or sexual about it.

[petercooper]

Early days on this one: "researchers asked 54 people online to explain, with no word limit, why women might be less likely to get CPR when they collapse in public" .. though at least they did use VR to attempt to measure behavior, but concluded: "a study with more participants is needed to statistically identify any significant gender gaps"

It doesn't seem surprising though. We've had stories in the UK where young children have wandered the streets for hours with no members of the public wanting to get involved because of the attitudes around stranger danger.

[2000UltraDeluxe]

Unfortunately, it's quite expected. I don't want to get into the debate about whether any of it is true or not, but I believe most agree that lot of the current online narrative either demonizes men or claims that fake sexual harrasment claims are commonplace.

It's not hard to see why being bombarded with such messaging on social media would lead to some people responding to it.

[dtx1]

> It doesn't seem surprising though. We've had stories in the UK where young children have wandered the streets for hours with no members of the public wanting to get involved because of the attitudes around stranger danger.

Who would have thought that publicly considering every male to be a (potential) sexual predator would have negative consequences? In any case if you are male and ever in a situation where you consider helping someone but don't because you might be considered a perv or a creep, look for another, preferably female adult and involve them in the effort of helping.

[MomoXenosaga]

Also why men can't work at daycare centres. It is sad one pedo can spoil it for every male.

[throwawaysleep]

There is no emergency where I touch an unconscious woman or get involved with a child where I do not trust the parent.

I don’t even think I would be willing to get involved unless I trusted the witnesses. I’m a socially awkward guy, so if there is a problem I lose by default.

So unless it is friends and family, I don’t know anything medical.

[closewith]

Edit: Unwanted attention

[tokai]

I really lack this angle from their studies. In their later study they conclude that:

"Likewise, said Perman, people need to be assured it's OK to touch a woman you don't know if you are helping someone who might otherwise die"

But that only holds if the risk of getting in trouble is not real. But they don't spend any energy figuring out if this barrier to CPR is imagined or real.

[incone123]

"you remove all clothing and move jewellery away from the site"

As a SAR medic because you're setting up for defibrillation. For the public its fine to do minimal exposure; You can figure out CPR hand position through the patient's shirt.

[roenxi]

Do you have any interesting statistics or official training related to your experiences, or is it word of mouth & personal anecdotes?

I can report finding your comment more interesting than the article. This study seems underexplained and it is hard for me to work out what they actually did and whether the results were because of different symptoms of heart attacks between the genders. There seems to be discussion of hypotheticals and mashing different studies together in ways that aren't justified.

[benj111]

I wonder if CPR training dolls were to made female, whether that would improve matters?

It would at least force you to deal with the question of breasts during training.

[incone123]

At least one major brand does exactly that. https://laerdal.com/gb/doc/2404/Resusci-Anne-QCPR

[hackeraccount]

I always thought it was resussannie ?

[Overtonwindow]

I can’t say for certain how I would act in such a situation, but I like to think I would provide CPR regardless of gender. However I can certainly see the point that a man would be very hesitant to provide aid to a woman in this…time of easy misunderstanding.

[Syzygies]

One never knows till one is in the moment. I watched a wave grab a child. As it happened we both came back out, but it was neither or both, that's how we're wired.

As a professor one of my students had a seizure then stopped breathing, during one of my exams. There were fifty students closer to her than me, yet somehow I found myself giving aid, as everyone else either dialed 911 or swooned "there goes my professor!" There was that second where all these thoughts went through my mind, but then she started breathing.

As for false accusations, there's a principle that accusers should understand but don't: NEVER assume you're the craziest person in the room.

[elil17]

Easy solution: train more women in CPR.

Also, many airports now have CPR training stations where you can practice on a dummy while you wait for your flight. Please try one, I found it very informative!

[bone_frequency]

I specially agree with the two first reasons listed in the article. I do have certified first aid and CPR training but the wellbeing of my family comes first, I am not going to get charged with attempted rape and/or cancelled because I wanted to be a good samaritan.

[elil17]

I've done a lot of searching after reading this article and I couldn't find a case where a man was charged with a crime or canceled for performing CPR or using an AED.

The closest I could find was this case in Japan, where someone was let go by police the minute he told them he was using an AED (https://japantoday.com/category/national/man-revives-woman-w...).

[0xbadc0de5]

My personal perspective is that if you are performing CPR on me and saving my life, you're forgiven if you want to touch my junk, steal my watch or accidentally break a rib.

[Markoff]

Sexual harassment accusation?

Edit: So as I thought: "In the replies, the team identified four themes:

Potentially inappropriate touching or exposure;

Fear of being accused of sexual assault;

Fear of causing physical injury;

Poor recognition of women in cardiac arrest -- specifically a perception that women are less likely to have heart problems, or may be overdramatizing or "faking" an incident;

or

The misconception that breasts make CPR more challenging."

[tokai]

This lacks a year in the title.

They continued their research, with their next study having +500 participants. It's mechanical turk participants though.

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/circ.142.suppl_4.139

[hoseja]

, now lie in it.