Donor education campaigns since the introduction of the Dutch organ donation act: increased cohesion between campaigns has paid off.
Governments utilize special policy measures to increase and maintain positive attitudes among their citizens towards consent registration and organ donation. Little has been published on these national strategies. Some studies report on the impact of single policy measures shortly after their implementation, whereas the assessment of the impact of a national strategy on organ donation over a long period of time has been lacking. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of the Dutch donor education strategy (1998-2008) on the availability of donor organs, by trying to disentangle the impact of education from other factors. In this study, we have devised a research strategy to assess the impact of policy measures at national level, while providing information about Dutch initiatives to increase registration and procurement rates, and demonstrating and explaining these increases. The increased resources and improved strategies employed to educate the public in relation to organ donation have paid off, but the impact decreases over time. The question remains whether the effects of these policy measures will further level off over time and what levels of increase in donor registration rates and efficiency of donor procurement are realistic targets to achieve.
Coppen
Remco
R
NIVEL, Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research, Utrecht, The Netherlands. r.coppen@nivel.nl
Friele
Roland D
RD
Gevers
Sjef K M
SK
van der Zee
Jouke
J
D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D009426:Netherlands; D019724:Presumed Consent / Q000941:ethics; D013690:Television; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000600:supply & distribution; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000379:methods*