A study to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding organ and body donation among high school teachers at government and private rural schools of Mysuru city with a view to organize an awareness programme

 

Mrs. Vidya. M1, Mrs. Aswathy Devi2, Prof. Sheela Williams3, Mrs. Usha. M. Thomas2

1II Year MSc Nursing, JSS College of Nursing, Mysore

2Associate Professor. JSS College of Nursing, Mysore

3Principal. JSS College of  Nursing,  Mysore

*Corresponding Author Email:

 

ABSTRACT:

Background of the Study:

Organ Donation is one of the most spectacular endeavors till date. Organ Donation from deceased persons has been performed since 1964. Since then, there is chronic shortage for organs and low response to deceased organ donation. Though the first deceased organ transplant was conducted nearly five years ago in Karnataka, such donations still remain a sporadic event in the state.14 Human cadavers for purpose of study are at scarcity with mushrooming of medical institutions in this country. Teaching and research in Anatomy is mainly based on cadaver dissection. The concept of awareness of VBD (Voluntary Body Donation) in large scale is uttermost necessity of the hour. 2 

Aim:

The aim of the is to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding organ and body donation among high school teachers at government and private rural schools of Mysuru city with a view to organize an awareness programme.

Methods:

In the study Descriptive study design is used and Cluster sampling technique was adopted to select 120 high school teachers from government and private rural high school of Mysuru city. Pilot Study was conducted, the tool and study design were found to be feasible. The knowledge and attitude level was measured by using structured knowledge questionnaire and attitude scale .The tool was validated by experts and reliability was established by test-retest method. Awareness programme was conducted to all samples. The data was collected and analyzed by using Descriptive and Inferential statistics.

Results:

Results of the study revealed that, the majority of the high school teachers had average knowledge and positive attitude regarding organ and body donation. Correlation coefficient between knowledge and attitude (r=0.98) scores was significant at 0.05 level inferring that knowledge and attitude are interrelated. Chi square value to find the association between knowledge and attitude with their selected personal variables showed that no selected personal variables were associated with the knowledge level of high school teachers and only gender had significant association with the attitude level of the high school teachers regarding organ and body donation.

Conclusion:

The findings of this study and literature supports the need for multiple health education strategies and campaigns to rural people as there is huge shortage of organs and cadavers. It is essential to stress the need to motivate high school teachers through them to their young students and to the community to attend more awareness programmes and to register themselves to donate organs and their body. A media campaign to increase knowledge and change the attitudes of rural high school teachers is imperative.

KEYWORDS: High school teachers, awareness programme, organ and body donation.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

Health and illness are the two extremes of human life, illness can result in death. To save the lives of those with organ failure, there is a need for organ and body donors. Human body is cremated after death to follow our tradition, though there is a dearth need for cadavers and organs in the field of medical education and research.

 

The concept of organ donation in India was shrouded in many myths, some of which emanated from religious dogma and misconceptions. With more than 500 people dying each year waiting for an organ donor, the number of donors in India was a miniscule 0.08 per million.1 Worldwide, the need for organs and body is growing, as the supply of organs from organ donors has not kept pace with demand. The main reasons for shortage of organs in India are due to family consent, negative attitude, Religion, fear, ignorance, and misunderstanding.2

 

Attitudes towards organ and body donation in the general public can be influenced by factors such as level of related knowledge, level of education etc. Teenagers represent the future of the community and their opinion directly affects other family members and friends. This young population is dependent on the education and the advice given by their teachers. Therefore, teachers who are in favor of donation become promoters of organ and body donation.3

 

NEED FOR THE STUDY:

Organ donation from deceased persons has been performed since 1964. Since then, there is chronic shortage for organs and low response to deceased organ donation.14Human cadavers for purpose of study are a scarcity with mushrooming of medical institutions in this country. The concept of awareness of VBD (Voluntary Body Donation) in large scale is uttermost necessity of the hour. 4   

 

Nationally, with a population of 1.2 billion people, the statistic stands at 0.08 persons as organ donors per million populations. By donating, each person can save the lives of up to 7 individuals by way of organ donation and enhance the lives of over 50 people by way of tissue donation.5

 

Times of India daily reported that, there is scarcity of Cadavers in Mysore Medical College. According to the Medical Council of India, at least one body is required for a batch of 20 in their first year.

However, Mysore Government Medical College is managing with one cadaver for 86 students as it has become very difficult to get cadavers. Dr. N.M. Shamasundar, Head of the Department of Anatomy, JSS Medical College, Mysore expressed that awareness is required among public to develop positive attitude towards organ and body donation.6

 

As school children spend most of their daytime socializing and interacting with their teachers as well as with their schoolmates, these teachers play an important role in health education. They can impart the knowledge to their pupils and by extension, to the community.

The teachers play an important role to emphasize on these factors as well as to address regarding organ and body donation to the students and the community as a whole. Hence, this study is planned to assess these teachers knowledge and attitude regarding organ and body donation and to update their knowledge by an awareness programme.

 

OBJECTIVES:

1.     To assess the level of knowledge and attitude regarding organ and body donation among high school teachers in Government and Private rural schools.

2.     To determine the relationship between knowledge and attitude of high school teachers regarding organ and body donation in Government and Private rural schools.

3.     To find the association between the knowledge and attitude regarding organ and body donation among high school teachers and their selected personal variables.

4.     To organize an awareness programme regarding organ and body donation among high school teachers.

 

HYPOTHESIS:

H1:There will be significant correlation between knowledge and attitude regarding organ and body donation among high school teachers.

H2:  There will be significant association between knowledge and attitude regarding organ and body donation among high school teachers with their selected personal variables (age, gender, religion, subject of teaching, source of information, previous exposure to awareness programmers’).

 

METHODOLOGY:

Research Design:

The research design selected for study was descriptive survey design.

 

Sampling technique: Convenience sampling technique

Sample: sample size was 120 high school teachers working in Government and Private rural schools of Mysuru city.

 

Variables

Study variable:

Knowledge and Attitude regarding organ and body donation.

 

Demographic variables:

Age, gender, religion, subject of teaching, source of information, previous exposure to awareness programmes.

 

Setting: The study will be conducted in Government and Private rural high Schools of Mysuru city.

 

Data collection technique.

Section A- It deals with socio demographic characteristics which include: age, gender, religion, subject of teaching, source of information, previous exposure to awareness programmes.

Section B- Structured knowledge questionnaire was prepared to assess the knowledge of high school teachers regarding organ and body donation

Section C- Structured attitude scale to assess the attitude of high school teachers towards organ and body donation.

 

RESULTS:

Section 1: Selected personal variables of the High school teachers.

 

Table-1 Frequency and percentage distribution of high school teachers according to their selected personal variables        n=120

Sl. No

Sample Characteristics

Frequency

Percentage (%)

1.

Age in Years

1.1 25-45yrs

1.2 >46 yrs

 

94

26

 

70

30

2.

Gender

2.1 Male

2.2 Female

 

69

51

 

57.50

42.50

3.

Religion

3.1 Hindu

3. 2 Muslim

3.3 Christian

 

98

13

9

 

81.67

10.83

7.5

4.

Subject of teaching

4.1 Science and mathematics

4.2 Social Science

4.3 Languages

4.4 Others

 

31

30

33

36

 

25.83

17.17

27.50

30.00

5.

Previous exposure to source of information regarding organ and body donation

5.1 Books

5.2 Mass media

5.3 Teaching  programme

 

 

 

36

52

32

 

 

30.83

43.33

25.83

       6.

Any previous exposure to educational Programme regarding organ and body donation

6.1 Yes

6.2 No

 

 

 

 

32

88

 

 

 

 

26.67

73.33

 

Section-2 Level of knowledge and attitude among high school teachers regarding organ and body donation

 

a)     Description of high school teachers Knowledge regarding organ and body donation.

 

 

Table 2: Mean, Median, Standard deviation, Range of knowledge scores of high school teachers                                             n=120

Mean

Median

Range

SD

19.83

20

9-28

±4.698

 

 

Table-3 Frequency and Percentage distribution of Knowledge scores of high school teachers regarding organ and body donation.                                                                           n=120

 

Frequency (f)

Percentage (%)

Poor Knowledge(0-15)

22

18.33

Average Knowledge(16-23)

70

58.33

Good knowledge(24-30)

28

23.33

 

b)     Description of attitude scores of high school teachers regarding organ and body donation.

 

 

Table 4 Mean, Median, Standard deviation and  Range of attitude score of high school teachers                                 n=120

Mean

Median

Range

SD

83.42

87

45-99

±10.69

 

 

Table-5 Frequency and percentage distribution of attitude scores among high school teachers                                               n=120

 

Frequency (f)

Percentage (%)

Negative Attitude (20-60)

4

3.33

Favourable attitude(61-80)

33

27.5

Positive attitude (81-100)

83

69.17

 

Section 3 Relationship between knowledge and attitude scores of high school teachers regarding organ and body donation

 

H01:         There will be no significant relationship between knowledge and attitude scores of high school teachers regarding organ and body donation.

 

Table-6 Correlation coefficient between knowledge and attitude scores of high school teachers regarding organ and body donation.                                                                     n = 120

Variable

mean score

Correlation coefficient (r)

Knowledge

19.83

0.980*

Attitude

83.42

r (118) = 0.638, p<0.05, *=Significant.

 

 

Section-4Aassociation of level of knowledge and attitude of high school teachers regarding organ and body donation

The selected personal variables such as age, gender, religion, subject of teaching, source of information, previous exposure to awareness programmes of high school teachers were not having significant association with the knowledge scores and attitude level (except gender)  regarding organ and body donation at 0.05 level.

 

CONCLUSION:

The aim of the present study was, to assess the knowledge and attitude of high school teachers towards organ and body donation. Data were collected from 120 high school teachers by using structured knowledge questionnaire and attitude scale were analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics and presented in the form of tables and graphs.

 

The findings of this study and literature supports the need for multiple health education strategies and campaigns to rural people as there is huge shortage of organs and cadavers. It is essential to stress the need to motivate high school teachers through them to their young students and to the community to attend more awareness programmes and to register themselves to donate organs and their body. A media campaign to increase knowledge and change the attitudes of high school teachers is imperative.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS:

The following recommendations were made based on the results of the study.

1.     A similar study may be conducted using comparative survey approach.

2.     A study may be conducted to assess the effectiveness of health education programmes in rural areas.

3.     A similar study can be conducted with a control group and on larger samples for wider generalization.

4.     An Explorative study can be conducted to assess the barriers in organ and body donation.

5.     A Comparative study can be conducted to evaluate and compare the nursing and non-nursing students’ knowledge and attitude regarding organ and body donation.

 

REFERENCES:

1.     Bennett Coleman. A case study on how a 9 day campaign haspotential of saving 4,80,000 lives. I Lead India. Aug; 6. Available from www.inma.org

2.     Theresa MA. A study to assess the knowledge and attitude towards organ donation among Baccalaureate nursing students. Nightingale Nursing Times 2009 Mar; 4(12):30-

3.     Conesa C, Zambudio AR, Ramirez P, Canteras M, Rodriguez MM, Parrilla P. Socio-personal profile of teenagers opposed to organ donation: Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation 2004;19:1269-75.

4.     Dr. Saritha S, Dr. Vittoo Rao, M. “Voluntary Body Donation” The Gift That Lives On Forever A Survey of awareness in S.V.S. Medical & Dental Colleges, Mahaboobnagar (A.P., India). International Journal of Advancements in Research & Technology, 2012; 1(5).

5.     Why pledge your organ [Internet]. 2011 [updated 2011 Jun 22]. Available from: http://www.giftyourorgan.org/why-donate-your-organ.html

6.     Scarcity of Cadavers hits Government Medical college. The Times of India 2014,Dec 6;p.1(col.2)

 

 

 

Received on 28.06.2015          Modified on 10.07.2015

Accepted on 25.07.2015          © A&V Publications all right reserved

Asian J. Nur. Edu. and Research 6(1): Jan.- Mar.2016; Page 61-64

DOI: 10.5958/2349-2996.2016.00012.4