Attitudes toward Organ Donor Registration in the USA: Questionnaire-Based Analysis Focused on the Muslim Sub-population

Overview

Objectives/Goals In the USA, there is huge demand for transplantable organs with over 110,000 people on the waiting list to receive an organ and, of these, 18 people die everyday. African-American and Asian-American communities are three times more likely to develop End Stage Renal Failure that is treated by dialysis or a kidney transplant due to high prevalence of diabetes. There is a large gap between the demand and supply of organs across the Asian community, which leads to longer waiting times for a transplant. In the USA, there are few studies that have explored the religious attitudes of ethnic minorities. To contribute toward the gap in the literature in religious attitudes toward organ donation in the USA, the links between religion and ethnicity with regards to organ donation were explored through this study. Methods/Materials A questionnaire was developed with two focal areas; the first captured data of demographics such as ethnicity and religion and the second asked respondents reasons for and against registering on the organ donor register, methods to increase awareness and whether further information would encourage registration. The questionnaire was set up as a public-access Google Doc. The strategy used was convenience sampling, and snowballing technique was applied. Results The majority of Muslim respondents (90%) were non-donors due to lack of knowledge of their religion#s stance toward donation, not previously considering donation and not knowing what effect transplantation would have on the body and burial. Across respondents, it was agreed more information about donation is needed to encourage organ donor registrations and current donors had been encouraged by knowledge of organ donor processes and awareness of the critical shortage of donors. Conclusions/Discussion The most common reasons for not being an organ donor were being unaware of religion#s stance on organ donation and transplantation and never considering becoming an organ donor. Future studies will include the effectiveness of targeted intervention campaigns within the Muslim community. The interventions will be implemented, and over the long-term, the community will be re-surveyed to determine the changes in attitude towards organ donation registration.

Competition history

• CSEF 2014 Behavioral & Social Sciences · Entry S0401

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