title: Impact of an Educational Intervention on Increasing the Knowledge and Changing the Attitude and Beliefs towards Organ Donation among Medical Students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Organ transplantation saves thousands of lives worldwide. Organ transplantation is a boon to the medical profession, as it helps in saving the lives of many diseased people. Globally, the prevalence of knowledge on organ donation was found to range from 60% to 85%, on using different knowledge variables. Knowledge, attitude and actions are interrelated and previous studies have shown that culture and religion were important external influences which affected the decision making process. So, students require further information on the organ donation process and they need opportunities to examine their own beliefs and attitudes, which can be addressed through educational interventions.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Purpose of the study was to investigate the knowledge, attitude and belief on/towards organ donation and the impact of an educational intervention on them.
  
  
  METHODS
  An educational interventional study with pre structured questions being administered to study subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the present study, a total of 70 students consented to participate and all the 70 attended the pre-test and post-test after the classroom teaching. Among the 70 participants, 35(50%) were males and 35(50%) were females. A majority of the subjects were Hindus 64(91.4%) and only 3(4.30%) were Muslims. Sixty seven (95.7%) of the students had heard of the term, 'organ donation'. Most common reason given by the participants for organ donation was that it was done to save someone's life [61 (87.11%)]. Among the 70 study subjects, only 19(27.10%) knew about the organs that could be donated, whose number increased to 56(80%) after providing the educational intervention. The difference which was observed in their knowledge before and after providing the educational intervention was found to be statistically significant (t= 39.315, p< 0.0000). The awareness of the legislation regarding organ donation was poor. Thiry one(444.3%) subjects were unaware about the existence of laws which were related to organ donation and its process.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study emphasizes the need of an intervention which incorporates the knowledge, motivational messages, facts and figures, to bring necessary changes in the perceptions and intentions of the students regarding organ donations.
authors.affiliation: Assiatant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, S. Nijalingappa Medical College , Navanagar, Bagalkot, Karnataka, India .
authors.forename: Umesh Yamanappa
authors.initials: UY
authors.lastname: Ramadurg
authors.affiliation: Undergraduate Student, Department of Community Medicine, S. Nijalingappa Medical College , Navanagar, Bagalkot, Karnataka, India .
authors.forename: Akash
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gupta
keywords: Knowledge and attitude; Medical students; Organ donation