The Effect of Educational Initiatives on the Attitude and Knowledge of Health Care Professionals Regarding Organ Donation and Transplantation: An Integrative Literature Review

Abstract

This integrative literature review synthesizes evidence on the effect of educational initiatives (EI) on the attitude and knowledge of health care professionals regarding organ donation and transplantation (ODT), and the EI effect considering the risks of the ODT process related to the professionals' attitudes and knowledge. This search included 8 databases, with search terms across 4 groups: ODT activities, health professionals, attitude/knowledge, and EI. We applied the PICO framework to select articles: Population - health care professionals; Intervention - any EI; Comparison - pre/post or intervention/control designs; and Outcomes - indicators of attitudes or knowledge toward ODT. After the appraisal of 2,221 citations, 21 studies were included in this review. The EI varied to a great extent in terms of format (seminars, workshops, video lectures; online or in-person training), duration (from 15 minutes to 3 months), and the number of participants (from 12 to 1011). The effects reported were positive, increasing professionals' knowledge and attitude regarding the ODT process for all EI formats. Most articles (14; 67%) presented positive results with statistical significance for all indicators analyzed, and the remaining studies (7; 35%) reported statistical significance for some of the indicators analyzed. All EIs focused on donation or post-transplantation activities, lacking studies on the transplantation stage. Results suggest that different types of EIs may positively affect the attitude and knowledge of health care professionals regarding the ODT process. This study provides an up-to-date overview of the main themes examined in this literature, highlighting critical knowledge gaps and methodological flaws.