ABSTRACT
Objective: To assess the knowledge and attitude of healthcare and non-healthcare students regarding organ donation in Ajman, UAE
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted for a period of 4 months including Health sciences and Non-health sciences students who were selected from Gulf Medical University and Ajman Science and Technology University respectively. Self administered validated questionnaire was used for data collection. The sample size was calculated to a minimum of 200 for each population using a stratified random sampling method. The questionnaire was divided into sections that comprised of knowledge and attitude questions separately. Based on the correct knowledge question and positive attitude answer, a scoring system was established where a student could get a total score of 43 [100%] for knowledge and 8 [100%] for attitude. Adequate knowledge and attitude scores were identified if the corresponding student scores were above the 50% cut-off point. The Mann- Whitney U test was employed to test the significance of difference between the median score of both sampled populations
Results: Only 35% of healthcare and 12.5% of non-healthcare students had above average knowledge. The median score of total knowledge among health sciences and non- health sciences students was below average for both, with the former getting significantly higher median scores compared to the latter group. Similarly, the test revealed a significantly higher median total attitude scores value of health sciences compared to non- health sciences. When asked about their opinion on organ donation in general, 76% from health sciences and 47% from non- health sciences replied with a positive attitude
Conclusion: Only 35% of health sciences and 12.5% of non- health sciences students had above average knowledge. Health sciences students have significantly higher knowledge and more positive attitudes regarding organ donation compared to Non- health sciences students