title: Public awareness survey about organ donation and transplantation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This survey was conducted to assess the public perception on organ donation and transplantation.
  
  
  METHODS
  A random sample of the population attending the outpatient clinics in Dhahran Military Hospital, Saudi Arabia, from December 1, 2011, to January 31, 2012, answered a questionnaire related to the above aim.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From 582 subjects who answered the questionnaire, 85 were excluded for incoherent answers. From the remaining 497, 77.7% were males and 22.3% females with the age ranging from 18 to 65 years, and the majority was at a secondary or university level of education. More than 90% were aware organ transplantation and donation. From a religious point of view, 68.6% considered it legal to donate organs versus 26.2%. Those who disagreed with the concept of donation believed that one kidney is not enough to survive (50%), and that the remaining kidney may be affected (25.8%), whereas 15.2% expressed fear of the operation. Kidney transplantation was the preferred treatment for 73.2% of respondents and 12.75% were in favor of dialysis. Regarding financial incentive, 14.5% asked for reward from the government, 3.4% believed that the reward should come from the donor, and the majority (82.1%) stated that organ donation should be for the sake of God. Finally, there was a 61.2% willingness of respondents to donate relatives' organs after brain death.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The level of awareness about donation and transplantation in our population was found to be satisfactory. Religion was not a bar for organ donation; moreover, financial incentive was not found to be a positive stimulus toward donation because the majority was willing to donate for the sake of God.
authors: King Fahd Military Medical Complex, Dhahran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: tayebgom@hotmail.com.
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Mohamed
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Guella
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000533:Altruism; D001364:Awareness; D035881:Compensation and Redress; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D037921:Gift Giving; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007514:Islam / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D016377:Organ Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D010465:Perception; D011639:Public Opinion; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D020458:Third-Party Consent; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology*; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D055815:Young Adult