Attitudes and Behavior of Young European Adults Towards the Donation of Organs – a Call for Better Information

Abstract

Public perception of organ donation critically affects the availability of organ transplantation in the Western world. To assess the attitude of young adults towards the donation of organs and to investigate potential factors influencing their knowledge and actual behavior regarding organ transplantation, we evaluated a handout questionnaire survey of all Swiss-Italian recruits during six of the years 1989-98 (n Ω 7272). The attitude of recruits towards organ donation did not change significantly within the 10-year survey period: 61% of young men would personally donate their organs in the case of brain death, 13% would refuse, and 26% had not made up their mind. If they had to decide for close relatives, 50% would consent; 60% of recruits neither knew their next of kin's attitude nor had informed them about their own opinion; 80% felt they were insufficiently informed about organ transplantation. A significantly more positive attitude towards organ donation was found among men who felt they were sufficiently informed, who had close next of kin who were aware of their personal attitude (p ∞0.0001), who had contacts with transplanted persons (p ∞0.015), or who believed in an existence after death (p ∞0.001; c 2 -test). Our results suggest that there is potentially large support towards organ donation in this population. To minimize the high rate of indecisiveness, young adults need more appropriate information on the subject and they ask for it.

Construcción de instrumento para evaluar factores asociados a la disposición hacia la donación de órganos

“…Uno de los principales predictores de la actitud de donación de órganos es la comunicación con la familia respecto a la donación 2,3,4,12,13 . Este factor fue uno de los encontrados en el presente instrumento, siendo cuatro los ítems que apuntan al mismo.…”

“…Un tercer factor identificado en este instrumento tiene relación con los conocimientos acerca de la donación y trasplante de órganos, lo cual coincide con lo planteado en investigaciones anteriores 2,3,4,11,14 . Otra conclusión teórica era que la profesión de una religión influenciara en la disposición hacia la donación 5,17 .…”

“…Actualmente, existe un déficit de donantes de órganos en relación a la cantidad de personas que están en listas de espera [2][3][4][5] . El país que mejores resultados ha obtenido es España, que presenta una tasa de 36 donantes por millón de personas (pmp), mientras que en Chile la cifra alcanzada el 2014 fue de 6 pmp 6 , la cual aumentó el año 2015 a 6,7 pmp 22 .…”

“…Entre los factores más importantes, se encuentran: la comunicación con la familia respecto a la donación de órganos [2][3][4]12,13 , conocimientos respecto a la donación y trasplante de órganos [2][3][4]11,14 , confianza en el sistema sanitario 2,3,15,16 y profesión de una religión 5,17 .…”

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“…Therefore, it would seem to be beneficial to promote dialogue about matters of transplantation and donation with family circles and with one's partner. 9,30,31 However, this most basic mechanism of information and decision-making could come up against ancestral taboos that could prevent or make it difficult to have conversations about death. In most of the Latin American populations, the subject of death is not usually discussed because of the belief that it will bring bad luck.…”