Knowledge of the brain death concept among adolescents in southeast Spain.

BACKGROUND: The concept of brain death (BD) is not very well known in the population, making it one of the main psychosocial barriers to favorable attitudes toward donation. Adolescents are a key sector of the population for future organ donation. For this reason it is important to find out what they know about this concept.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to analyze the concept of BD among adolescents in the southeast of Spain and to determine their influence on attitude toward organ donation.

METHODS: In the southeast of Spain a random sample was stratified according to Compulsory Secondary Education (CSE) schools. In the 10 selected schools, we performed a random sampling of each of the classes from the 1st to the 4th years of CSE. Knowledge of the concept of BD and attitude toward donation were analyzed with the use of a validated questionnaire, which was self-administered and completed anonymously. Statistical analyses used the Student t test and the χ(2) test.

RESULTS: Of 3,547 adolescents surveyed, 38% (n = 1,337) of the respondents knew the BD concept, considering it to be the death of an individual. Of the rest, 54% (n = 1,930) did not know this concept and the remaining 8% (n = 280) thought it did not mean a person's death. The respondents who were more in favor of deceased donation had a better knowledge of the concept of BD than those who had doubts (40% vs 35%, respectively; P = .007). The knowledge of the concept of BD was associated with variables directly and indirectly related with donation and transplantation (P < .05).

CONCLUSIONS: Most adolescents in the southeast of Spain do not know the concept of BD, and this adversely affects the attitude toward organ donation.