title: Attitudes and behavior regarding organ donation and transplantation on the part of religious officials in the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study evaluated the opinions and attitudes toward organ donation and transplantation on the part of religious officials in the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey.
  
  
  METHODS
  This descriptive study was performed between December 2008 and November 2009 with 550 among Muslim religious officials, including 541 males and 9 females, who attended educational seminars on the subject arranged in collaboration with Mufti Offices in the provinces of Trabzon, Rize, Gümüşhane, and Giresun in the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey. A supervised questionnaire administered before the seminars contained questions investigating whether subjects have volunteered to donate organs, reasons for not volunteering, whether they would donate the organs of a close relative in the event such a death, and what they would think in the event they required an organ transplantation themselves. Questions were also asked regarding permission for organ transplantation and donation in 5 main religions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although no female religious officials had previously volunteered to donate organs, 4 men (0.7%) had done so. After attending seminars, 32 (5.9%) volunteered to donate. The main reasons cited for not volunteering to donate organs were lack of sufficient knowledge of the procedures involved (30.6%) and lack of interest (17.4%). Three hundred five religious officials stated they would not agree to organ donation in the event of the death of a close relative. When asked "What would you think about organ donation and transplantation if you needed an organ transplant now?", 46.0% replied "I would want an organ transplant." Finally, 83.3% of religious officials stated that Islam permits organ donation and transplantation, whereas 13.6% stated that Christianity permits it, other figures being 7.3% for Judaism, 2.5% for Buddhism, and 2.0% for Hinduism.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Religious views affect organ donation. The fact that religious officials agreed to donate organs after appropriate education emphasized that Islam is the most sensitive faith on the subject, indicating that the issues can be improved through collaboration with religious officials.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Karadeniz Technical University, Faculty of Medicine, Trabzon, Turkey. serdarturkyilmaz@yahoo.com
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Türkyilmaz
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Topbaş
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ulusoy
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kalyoncu
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kiliç
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Çan
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012067:Religion; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement; D014421:Turkey