ObjectivesTo investigate the demographics and motivations of whole-body donors in China, and help suggest a solution to the problem of low body donation numbers.DesignA cross-sectional study on body donors in China. Demographic analysis of the donating information of deceased donors and in-depth interviews of potential body donors.SettingEleven districts in Nanjing, China.ParticipantsDeceased whole-body donors who had donated their bodies to the body donation receiving station of Nanjing Medical University between 1 July 2009 and 30 June 2019 (n=835), and living registered whole-body donors (n=68).ResultsAmong the whole-body donor population, the numbers of males, people older than 65 years and those working as teachers, government officials, medical staff and farmers were significantly higher than those of the general Nanjing population. Donors with an education level of college or above accounted for nearly half of the deceased donors, and considered donating their bodies earlier in their lives than others. Cancer and heart disease were the major causes of death among donors. Interviews of the 68 living donors revealed the following major motivations for the decision to donate: to support medical education; to reduce their children’s funeral burden; no longer holding traditional Chinese views on life and death; influence by role models and annoyance at complex funeral ceremonies.ConclusionsOlder people, people with an education level of college or above, labourers, teachers, government officials and farmers are the major groups that donate their bodies. Although people’s motivations for donation are complex, their desire to support medical education is the most prevalent motivation. By helping focus on target groups for promotional messaging and identifying their prime motivations, this study’s findings can provide a reference for promoting body donation in China.
We studied the influence of doctor-patient communication skills training on brain functional architecture using resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) with a regional homogeneity (ReHo) method. Ten medical students participated in the study. A 1-year long doctor-patient communication skills training program was conducted. Rs-fMRI data were collected at baseline, one month and one year after training. There was a significant increase in the communication skills test average scores between baseline and 1-month duration of training (P<0.001). After one month of communication skills training, medical students had decreased ReHo in the right superior temporal gyrus compared with the baseline. After one year of communication skills training, students had increased ReHo in multiple regions and decreased ReHo in several regions (P<0.05, Alphasim corrected). The change of ReHo values in the superior temporal gyrus negatively correlated with the change of communication skills scale score between one month after communication skills training and baseline (r=–0.734, P= 0.036). The training program we used can be an effective approach of improving doctor-patient communication skills, and the training resulted in functional plasticity of the brain's architecture toward optimizing locally functional organization.
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