title: People's attitude toward xenotransplantation: affective reactions and the influence of the evaluation context.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  One of the major issues in transplantation is to find a strategy to overcome the scarcity of human organs. One of the interventions under investigation is represented by xenotransplantation. The present study aimed to understand the role of psychological factors on people's perception of xenotransplantation. In particular, we tested a condition in which different alternatives (e.g., human vs. pig donors) are presented together allowing people to compare among them (joint evaluation) and two conditions in which people are presented with only one of the two alternatives and cannot compare them (separate evaluation).
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted with three different groups of participants: patients waiting for liver transplantation (N = 31 in joint evaluation and N = 30 in each of the two separate evaluation conditions); students (N = 30 in join evaluation and N = 30 in each of the two separate evaluation conditions); and healthy adults (N = 30 in joint evaluation and N = 30 in each of the two separate evaluation conditions). Participants were presented with hypothetical scenarios and asked how good (or bad) were their feelings toward one or two types of donor (e.g., human and pig).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients showed a skeptical attitude toward xenotransplantation both when it was evaluated together with the human donor (P < 0.01) or when it was evaluated separately (P < 0.01). Differently, when asked to evaluate each donor separately healthy adults and students showed similar affective reactions toward the two alternatives (human organ and xenograft).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study demonstrates that the evaluation context may increase the impact of affective reactions and reduce healthy people's ability to use information on the potential benefit of a novel biomedical technology. Regardless of the evaluation context, patients always rely on affective reactions and show an overall preference for the human organ.
authors: Department of Developmental and Socialization Psychology, University of Padua, Via Venezia 8, Padua, Italy. enrico.rubaltelli@unipd.it
authors: Enrico
authors: E
authors: Rubaltelli
authors: Patrizia
authors: P
authors: Burra
authors: Daniele
authors: D
authors: Canova
authors: Giacomo
authors: G
authors: Germani
authors: Silvia
authors: S
authors: Tomat
authors: Ermanno
authors: E
authors: Ancona
authors: Emanuele
authors: E
authors: Cozzi
authors: Rino
authors: R
authors: Rumiati
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011639:Public Opinion; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014019:Tissue Donors; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000379:methods; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult