Can education alter attitudes, behaviour and knowledge about organ donation? A pretest–post-test study

OBJECTIVE: The emergence of evidence suggests that student nurses commonly exhibit concerns about their lack of knowledge of organ donation and transplantation. Formal training about organ donation has been shown to positively influence attitude, encourage communication and registration behaviours and improve knowledge about donor eligibility and brain death. The focus of this study was to determine the attitude and behaviour of student nurses and to assess their level of knowledge about organ donation after a programme of study. DESIGN: A quantitative questionnaire was completed before and after participation in a programme of study using a pretest–post-test design. SETTING: Participants were recruited from a University based in Northern Ireland during the period from February to April 2011. PARTICIPANTS: 100 preregistration nurses (female : male=96 : 4) aged 18–50 years (mean (SD) 24.3 (6.0) years) were recruited. RESULTS: Participants’ knowledge improved over the programme of study with regard to the suitability of organs that can be donated after death, methods available to register organ donation intentions, organ donation laws, concept of brain death and the likelihood of recovery after brain death. Changes in attitude postintervention were also observed in relation to participants’ willingness to accept an informed system of consent and with regard to participants’ actual discussion behaviour. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide support for the introduction of a programme that helps inform student nurses about important aspects of organ donation.