[Information campaign on organ donation and transplant in school children]

To increase schoolchildren's understanding and clarify their wrong ideas on organ donation and transplant (ODT).

Quasi-experimental study.

12 schools in the Autonomous Community of Murcia.

428 schoolchildren from the fourth and fifth years of Basic General Education during the academic year 1996 to 1997.

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.

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.

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.