Cor Vasa 2017, 59(6):e546-e552 | DOI: 10.1016/j.crvasa.2016.12.004

Public stroke education: Current status worldwide and projects to increase awareness in the Czech Republic

Lucie Vondráčková^a, Robert Mikulík^b,c,d,*

^a Fakulta sociálních studií Masarykovy univerzity, Brno, Česká republika

^b Mezinárodní centrum klinického výzkumu, Fakultní nemocnice u sv. Anny v Brně, Brno, Česká republika

^c Neurologická klinika, Fakultní nemocnice u sv. Anny v Brně, Brno, Česká republika

^d Lékařská fakulta Masarykovy univerzity, Brno, Česká republika

Background: Immediate response to stroke symptoms by a stroke victim or bystander is the first and most critical step for short onset to treatment time, and thus for effective acute stroke treatments. Different campaigns to increase the stroke awareness have been implemented worldwide, but their impact is unclear.

Methods: Two databases were explored for papers evaluating stroke educational campaigns. Later, three more papers evaluating campaigns targeted to children were added. All of these papers were evaluated to gain a complex picture and context to introduce Czech educational program HOBIT.

Results: Thirty-nine studies were involved into the review. All studies described the design of educational campaigns. Campaigns were conducted with advertising strategies using different types of paid or unpaid media, were targeting general adult population or specific subgroups and were designed as one-single event or long-term advertising. The measurement of the campaign outcomes either as the "stroke knowledge" or the "stroke response action" made it difficult to compare all of these campaigns in terms of efficacy together. Six studies showed that campaigns can improve population behavior in case of stroke. Twenty publications indicated that campaigns can increase the stroke knowledge, however, six of these revealed that campaigns failed to improve the behavioral intention. Two studies presented inefficient campaigns. Three campaigns targeted to children seemed to be efficient even in longer terms.

Conclusion: Educating adults about stroke is costly and its efficacy is either limited or not present. The promising solution is educating children at schools.

Keywords: Educational campaigns; Efficacy; Feasibility; Stroke awareness

Received: September 27, 2016; Accepted: December 20, 2016; Published: December 1, 2017  Show citation