Increasing Donor Designation Rates in Teenagers: Effectiveness of a Driver's Education Intervention

Increasing Donor Designation Rates in Teenagers: Effectiveness of a Driver's Education Intervention

Four aims were pursued: (1) Evaluate the effectiveness of video messaging on adolescent donor designations in comparison to a regionally-matched historical comparison group of adolescents; (2) Compare the differential effectiveness of three commonly-used donation messaging strategies (informational, testimonial, and blended) on donor designations; (3) Examine the impact of donation messaging on changes in secondary outcomes (donation engagement, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, likelihood of donor designation, discussion with a parent) before and after video intervention; and (4) Assess the commitment of parents to follow their adolescent's donation wishes in the event of death. Our central hypotheses were that integrating donation video messaging into driver education classes would generate a higher proportion of donor designations compared to a historical comparison group and that blended video messaging (informational + testimonials) would yield a higher proportion of donor designations and more change in secondary outcomes.

Criteria for Classrooms:

Classroom eligibility criteria included: (a) driver education conducted in English, and (b) instructor agreement not to provide or discuss donation information beyond the study video.

Criteria for Adolescent Participants:

Inclusion Criteria:

• Enrolled in driving school class
• English speaking
• Adolescent assent
• Parental permission to participate

Exclusion Criteria:

• Prior participation in a driver's education class in which organ donation education was provided
• Parent permission form not signed