Effectiveness of Organ Donation Information Campaigns in Germany: A Facebook Based Online Survey

• Published in: Interactive journal of medical research 2015-07, Vol.4 (3), p.e16-e16
• Main Authors: Terbonssen, Tobias, Settmacher, Utz, Wurst, Christine, Dirsch, Olaf, Dahmen, Uta
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Original Paper
• ISSN: 1929-073X; 1929-073X
• DOI: 10.2196/ijmr.4287

The German transplantation system is in a crisis due to a lack of donor organs. Information campaigns are one of the main approaches to increase organ donation rates. Since 2012, German health insurance funds are obliged by law to inform their members about organ donation. We raised the hypothesis: The willingness to sign a donor card rises due to the subsequent increase of specific knowledge by receiving the information material of the health insurance funds. The objective of the study was to assess the influence of information campaigns on the specific knowledge and the willingness to donate organs. We conducted an online survey based on recruitment via Facebook groups, advertisements using the snowball effect, and on mailing lists of medical faculties in Germany. Besides the demographic data, the willingness to hold an organ donor card was investigated. Specific knowledge regarding transplantation was explored using five factual questions resulting in a specific knowledge score. We recruited a total of 2484 participants, of which 32.7% (300/917) had received information material. Mean age was 29.9 (SD 11.0, median 26.0). There were 65.81% (1594/2422) of the participants that were female. The mean knowledge score was 3.28 of a possible 5.00 (SD 1.1, median 3.0). Holding a donor card was associated with specific knowledge (P