title: Factors that hinder organ donation: religio-cultural or lack of information and trust.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper examines factors that influence Malaysian persons with a tertiary level of education on their willingness to donate organs.
  
  
  METHODS
  A survey was done in the Klang Valley (Kuala Lumpur and its suburbs) at several designated locations. A total of 1420 people were approached, and we focused the sample of 688 respondents with a tertiary level of education. Respondents were given 2 sets of answers: (1) a religio-cultural category and (2) a structural category. They were allowed to choose more than 1 reason.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our findings revealed that only 47.5 percent of respondents declined becoming organ donors. The highest frequency recorded was "I am not convinced that my body part will be used beneficially " (30.1%), followed by "I do not have enough access to information " (29.2%), "I want my body to remain intact after death " (16.9%), and "It is against my religion " (9.9%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study revealed that religio-cultural factors are not a prime explanation for the lack of organ donation in the Malaysian case. This study suggests that better procurement methods used by dedicated agencies, as well as better education, could reduce the shortage between organ supply and demand.
authors: Department of Administrative Studies and Politics, Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, Malaysia. makmor@um.edu.my
authors: Makmor
authors: M
authors: Tumin
authors: Abdillah
authors: A
authors: Noh
authors: Idris
authors: I
authors: Jajri
authors: Chin-Sieng
authors: CS
authors: Chong
authors: Rishya
authors: R
authors: Manikam
authors: Nawi
authors: N
authors: Abdullah
mesh_terms: D022126:Access to Information; D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology*; D001293:Attitude to Death / Q000208:ethnology; D001364:Awareness; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice / Q000208:ethnology*; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D012067:Religion; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000523:psychology* / Q000600:supply & distribution; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement; D035502:Trust; D014850:Waiting Lists