Abstract:

Health education as important part of science education at school refers primarily to scientific knowledge and less to personal values and motivational factors. As a result, a "knowledge-behaviour gap" can often be observed. This paper demonstrates that health education, and thus science education, can close this gap if both knowledge and motivational factors are considered and incorporated into health-related decision-making processes.

Leukaemia is a cancer of the hematopoietic and lymphatic systems, which affects approximately 13.000 people every year in Germany (Robert Koch-Institut, 2016). The clinical picture of various forms of leukaemia is similar as all forms interfere with the function of the bone marrow. It is a clonal disease that results from a variety of genetic changes in hematopoietic progenitor cells. These degenerated cells largely lose the ability to differentiate into mature hematopoietic cells but retain their capacity for division and (uncontrolled) proliferation. The consequence is the lack of normal blood cells in the blood and the accumulation of degenerated cells in the bone marrow, which leads to its infiltration and, often only in a few weeks, to global hematopoietic insufficiency. Stem cell transplantation is nowadays the only curative treatment option for leukaemia. (Andreesen & Heimpel, 2009).

This study investigates factors influencing students’ intention to donate stem cells to leukaemia patients. As a theoretical framework an extended model based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) is used (Ajzen, 2005), the TPB+ model. TPB+ model includes motivational internal factors of TPB (behavioural, normative and control beliefs), and selected external factors such as knowledge, moral obligation, moral reasoning, self-identity as a helper, and empathy, which were identified as influent factors especially in studies to blood donation (Bednall et al., 2013; Masser et al., 2008).

Based on the theoretical frame the teaching unit “Wake up - sensitisation for stem cell donation” was developed and conducted with 263 10 to 12-graders from German high schools. The research questions were:
(1) Which factors have a significant influence on the intention to become a stem cell donor?
(2) To what extent do the measured constructs of TPB+ change among non-intenders and intenders (students with high or low levels in intention for a stem-cell donation), after participation in the “Wake up” teaching unit?

The participants completed a questionnaire before and after the teaching unit “Wake up’” concerning the above-mentioned factors and their intention to register as a stem cell donor for leukaemia patients. The data were analysed with t-tests and regression analyses. The findings demonstrate that the TPB+ model permits an accurate prediction of intention. In addition, the teaching unit influences significantly some factors (e.g. negative attitude-related beliefs, control beliefs, moral obligation and subject knowledge) as well as the intention for stem cell donation. To sum up, for closing the “knowledge-behaviour gap” it is recommended to consider the mentioned factors when developing teaching units in context of health education.

Keywords:

Intention, beliefs, theory of planned behaviour, stem cell donation.