Clinical Professor Levine Children's Hospital Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is becoming a major public health problem worldwide. As a result, preventive measures including 1) raising awareness and 2) educating individuals on the most important risk factors for chronic kidney disease are becoming increasingly important to manage this epidemic. The World Kidney Day is a campaign that strives to raise awareness of the impact of kidney disease and its associated health problems.
Objective: To assess the effectiveness of annual education using the World Kidney Day campaign to improve knowledge of chronic kidney disease in children.
Design/Methods: Using educational materials provided by the World Kidney Day global initiative, we began a educational program in elementary and middle school aged children in the Charlotte area during their third and seventh grade years. The program consists of didactic sessions as well as hands on activities that are age appropriate. We assessed retention of the information presented by asking 8 multiple choice questions annually thereafter. We compared the percentages of correct responses during the 5 year program.
Results: The curriculum is currently in its fifth year, and 508 students have participated. Prior to the initiation of the curriculum, only 15% of questions received a correct response regardless of age level. One month after the program, 92.2% of questions were answered correctly. One year after the presentation, students answered 80.9% of the questions correctly, and two years into the curriculum, students answered 78.8% of questions correctly. Students have continued to demonstrate retention of the information presented answering 82.3% and 83.2% of questions correctly in years 4 and 5, respectively. The program is viewed favorably by parents (95.2%), staff (98.9%), and students (99.1%).Conclusion(s): Simple educational campaigns such as the World Kidney Day campaign are successful in increasing awareness about the importance of our kidneys to our overall health even in school aged children. This is only one small strategy in an effort to raise awareness of the importance of kidney health and the increasing impact of chronic kidney disease world wide. In school interventions to improve kidney disease education.
