[Evaluation of effects of education about a donor card on university or college students]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate effects of education about a donor card on college students.

Doctors at Kitami Health Center gave education about a donor cards to 548 university students or students of vocational college in Kitami city in 2000. To evaluate the effects according to a time-series design, surveys on knowledge and attitudes to the card as well as behavior regarding possession were carried out before and after the education. The subjects were divided into three groups for comparison, studying nursing at college, learning engineering at university, and welfare at college.

The numbers of respondents were 432 (the response rate: 78.8%) and 359 (the response rate: 65.5%) before and after the education, respectively. 1. 94.2% of the respondents knew about the donor card. The proportion was significantly larger for nursing students than for the others (P < 0.05). 2. The proportion of subjects demonstrating accurate knowledge about the card was significantly increased after the education in every group. 3. Before the education, nursing students were most likely to possess the card. The percentage of welfare subjects who possessed the card significantly increased after the education (P < 0.001). 4. The nurse students more than the other groups obtained the card because they were concerned with medicine. The university students with the card were less likely to have appropriate knowledge, while significantly more welfare students than in the other groups obtained the card because it was recommended by another person (P < 0.01). 5. The proportion of the subjects who did not possess the card because they were not willing to donate their organs increased after the education in every group, albeit without significance.

This study suggested that the education about the donor card promoted not only accurate knowledge about the card, but also a clear decision on whether to possess it.