OBJECTIVES: To increase schoolchildren's understanding and clarify their wrong ideas on organ donation and transplant (ODT). DESIGN: Quasi-experimental study. SETTING: 12 schools in the Autonomous Community of Murcia. PARTICIPANTS: 428 schoolchildren from the fourth and fifth years of Basic General Education during the academic year 1996 to 1997. INTERVENTIONS: An informative campaign carried out by health-service staff, which consists of four activities connected with ODT. Their knowledge was evaluated through a questionnaire on ODT from the ALCER (Murcia) Organisation for children in the first EGB cycle. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Average score was 5.15 points pre-campaign, 8.01 soon after and 7.39 long after, the differences between the pre-campaign and the two after, and between both the afters, were statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge of ODT was increased and wrong ideas were clarified. After three months there is a significant drop from the immediate post-campaign situation, which shows that subsequent activities to maintain children's level of knowledge must be carried out.
OBJECTIVES: To increase schoolchildren's understanding and clarify their wrong ideas on organ donation and transplant (ODT). DESIGN: Quasi-experimental study. SETTING: 12 schools in the Autonomous Community of Murcia. PARTICIPANTS: 428 schoolchildren from the fourth and fifth years of Basic General Education during the academic year 1996 to 1997. INTERVENTIONS: An informative campaign carried out by health-service staff, which consists of four activities connected with ODT. Their knowledge was evaluated through a questionnaire on ODT from the ALCER (Murcia) Organisation for children in the first EGB cycle. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Average score was 5.15 points pre-campaign, 8.01 soon after and 7.39 long after, the differences between the pre-campaign and the two after, and between both the afters, were statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge of ODT was increased and wrong ideas were clarified. After three months there is a significant drop from the immediate post-campaign situation, which shows that subsequent activities to maintain children's level of knowledge must be carried out.