Teenagers, Audio-Visual Prosumers and Audience Generators in the Field of Organ Donation.

Abstract

The creation of audio-visual content and the increase in the use of social networks by society have provided new opportunities for promoting health and the benefits of organ donation. This study analyzes the influence of audiovisual content produced by adolescents in the context of an educational program related to the promotion of organ donation with diffusion through social media. The program was implemented in the fourth year (mainly 15 and 16 year olds) in ten high schools in Spain. In the first phase, students learn about donation and create audio-visual messages about its benefits for society; in the second phase, they share this content on social networks. The influence of the content was measured using YouTube Analytics. In addition, a questionnaire was administered after the program to measure the way in which they shared the content on social networks. A total of 391 students participated in program, submitting 63 short films that obtained 104,912 views. The short films focused on appealing to society about the need for organs and the benefits of the organ donation and transplantation process. The social network that was used most frequently to share the content was WhatsApp (81.8%). Educating teenagers and turning them into prescribers of the health benefits of the organ donation and transplantation process through the use of social networks could be a good tool that can be exported to other fields of health.