Knowledge, attitudes and willingness to organ donation among the general public: a cross-sectional survey in China

Abstract

Background The purpose of this study is to assess the level of knowledge, attitudes, and willingness to organ donation among the general public in China. Methods The study population consisted of 4274 participants from Eastern, Central and Western China. The participants’ knowledge, attitudes and willingness to organ donation were collected by a self-designed questionnaire consisting of 30 items. Knowledge is measured by 10 items and presented as a 10 point score, attitudes is measured by 20 items using a 5-step Likert scale and total score ranged between 0 and 80; while the willingness to donate is assessed as binary variable (0 = No; 1 = Yes). A logistic regression model was used to assess the association of knowledge and attitudes with willingness to organ donation, controlling for demographic and socioeconomic confounders. Results The questionnaire response rate was 94.98%. The mean score (± SD) of the general public’s knowledge to organ donation was 6.84 ± 1.76, and the mean score (± SD) of attitudes to organ donation was 47.01 ± 9.07. The general public’s knowledge and attitudes were the highest in Eastern China, followed by West and Central China. The logistic regression model indicated a positive association between knowledge and the willingness to organ donation (OR = 1.12, 95%CI: 1.08, 1.17; P < 0.001); attitudes were also positively potential determinant of more willingness to organ donation (OR = 1.08, 95%CI: 1.07, 1.09; P < 0.001). Conclusions Knowledge and attitudes were found to be positively associated with the Chinese general public’s willingness to organ donation. Knowledge about the concept of brain death and the transplant procedure may help raise the rate of willingness to organ donation.

Knowledge and attitude about organ donation and transplantation among Omani university students

“…When we asked the students what supports them to donate organs, 76.8% say that they want to save a life, and only 3.9% would do it for the sake of money. In line with this study, 70.14% of the participants in the public in China would donate organs to save lives ( 37 ). However, in Turkey, where a pilot study assessed the knowledge and attitudes of medicine, nursing, dentistry, and health technical students toward organ donation, only 35.8% would donate organs to save a life ( 38 ).…”

Organ donation decision-making in ICU patients: from the perspectives of organ coordinators and physicians in China – a qualitative study

“…A phenomenological approach was used and one-on-one in-depth interviews were conducted with the study participants. Through reviewing relevant literature6 14 and discussions in the group, and taking into account the actual situation in China, we preliminarily drew up the outline of the interviews 15 16. Subsequently, through pre-interviews, a modified interview outline was formed.…”

Mediating effects of attitude on the relationship between knowledge and willingness to organ donation among nursing students

“…The Death Attitude Profile-Revised (DAP-R) is the Chinese edition of the DAP-R developed by Tang Lu and others (27). It consists of 32 items distributed across 5 dimensions: fear of death (items 1, 2, 7, 18, 20, 21, 32), death avoidance (items 3, 10,12,19,26), natural acceptance of death (items 6, 14, 17, 24, 30), approach acceptance of death (items 4,8,13,15,16,22,25,27,28,31), and escape acceptance of death (items 5,9,11,23,29). Each item is scored on a Likert 5 scale, ranging from "very disagree" to "very agree, " with scores ranging from 1 to 5.…”