Assessing the impact of student-led advocacy initiatives on Canadian undergraduate students’ knowledge of and attitudes toward organ donation: a cross-sectional survey from Western University

Background: Organ donation remains a critical public health concern in Canada, with persistently low registration rates despite widespread support. We sought to evaluate the efficacy of student-created educational materials in enhancing Canadian undergraduate students’ knowledge of and attitudes toward organ donation. Methods: We conducted a pretest–posttest cross-sectional survey at Western University, in which participants engaged with educational content developed by the student-led Organ Advocacy Initiative. We assessed the proportions of students with and without changed opinions toward organ donation using simple percentage analysis. Results: Ninety responses were available for analysis; of these, 62 were fully completed. Postintervention analyses revealed a significant increase in knowledge scores (p = 0.007), with students in health care–related majors demonstrating higher baseline knowledge scores than students in non–health care–related majors (p = 0.02). Whereas pre-existing attitudes toward organ donation were largely positive, concerns regarding organ misuse were more prevalent among non–health care students but showed a measurable decline following the intervention. Willingness to register as an organ donor remained stable among health care students but exhibited a marginal decrease among non–health care students postintervention. Conclusion: Student-led organ advocacy has the potential to improve knowledge of and attitudes toward organ donation. Future research should maximize the impact of student-led educational materials by targeting diverse populations and exploring the long-term effects through longitudinal studies.