Efficacy of an educational programme for secondary school students on opinions on renal transplantation and organ donation: a randomized controlled trial

Context. Organ shortage for transplantation is a crucial problem; educational interventions may increase donations and decrease opposition. Objective. To test the efficacy of an educational programme on opinions on organ transplantation and kidney donation. Design and Participants. Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial: eight intervention and eight control schools were randomly selected from the 33 public schools that agreed to participate. Targets: students in the last 2 years of secondary school (17-18 years); seven schools per group completed the study. Educational programme. Intervention: first questionnaire (anonymous); 2 h lesson in each class; 2 h general session with patients and experts; second questionnaire. Control: questionnaires. Main outcome measures. Differences between questionnaires (comparative analysis); interest; satisfaction with the programme; (cross-sectional analysis). Results. 1776 first, 1467 second questionnaires were retrieved. Living kidney donation: at baseline 78.8% of students would donate a kidney to a relative/friend in need. The answers were unaffected by type of school but depended on sex (females more prone to donate, P < 0.001); the answers did not change after the lessons. Cadaveric kidney donation: baseline opinions were mixed (intervention schools: 31.5% yes, 33.7% no, 34.8% uncertain), depending on type of school (classical-scientific high schools more positive than technical institutes, P < 0.001), sex (males more prone to donate, P < 0.001). Answers on living and cadaveric donation were correlated (P < 0.001). The educational intervention increased favourable (31.5 to 42.9%) and uncertain (34.8 to 41.1%) opinions and decreased negative ones (33.7 to 16%) (P < 0.001). Conclusions. Educational interventions are effective in increasing interest and improving opinions about cadaveric organ donation.