Attitudes and behavior of young European adults towards the donation of organs--a call for better information.
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 = 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; chi2-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.
Gross
T
T
Department of Surgery, Ospedale Civico, Lugano, Switzerland. tgross@uhbs.ch
Martinoli
S
S
Spagnoli
G
G
Badia
F
F
Malacrida
R
R
D000328:Adult; D001293:Attitude to Death; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001519:Behavior; D005060:Europe; D006266:Health Education; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D012067:Religion; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013557:Switzerland; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000523:psychology*