Effectiveness of Information Booklet on Immunosuppressant Therapy After Organ Transplantation Among Students

Organ transplantation is the moving of an organ from one body to another. Immunosuppressive drugs reduce the strength of the body's Immune system, but they do not eliminate the Immune system. The combination of medications and smaller dosage are used to develop a balance between providing enough Immune suppression to avoid rejection and to minimize the side effects. The purpose of the study is to assess the Effectiveness of information booklet on immunosuppressant therapy after organ transplantation among students of health science campus, Kochi.

Objectives of the study: 1) Compare the level of knowledge regarding immunosuppressant therapy before and after intervention among students. 2) To find out the association between pre-test level of knowledge regarding immunosuppressant therapy and demographic variables.

Methodology: Quantitative approach with experimental research design was adopted for the study. Probability sampling was used to select 80 samples from health sciences campus at Aims, Kochi. The tools used where semi-structured questionnaire to assess the effectiveness of information booklet on Immunosuppressant therapy after organ transplantation. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics.

Major findings: Majority of the students 37(92.5%) in experimental group belongs to the age group of 18-20 years and 34(85%) are females. Half of the students 20(50%) are taken from both Nursing and Pharmacy. Most of the students 21(52.5%) have no previous knowledge in experimental group. The major information regarding immunosuppressant therapy obtained from books 13(32.5%). Most of the students in experimental group 29(72.5%) have average knowledge in pre-test; while in post-test 36(90%) have good knowledge. The mean score on level of knowledge in experimental group was 11.98 in pre-test and 22.45 in post-test, the estimated t-value was 18.194 which is significant at p<0.05. The mean score on post-test level of knowledge between experimental group and control group was 12.68, the calculated t-value was 15.859 which is significant at p<0.001.The association of pre-test level of knowledge with selected demographic variable shows that level of knowledge is significantly associated with gender and professional qualification.

Conclusion: Immunosuppressant therapy is essential and effective for the survival of patients after organ transplantation. Those who are dealing with the patients need more and adequate knowledge regarding immunosuppressant therapy. So for improving knowledge on immunosuppressant therapy information booklet is effective.