title: Organ donation as an 'altruistic gift': incentives and reciprocity in deceased organ donation from a UK Polish migrant perspective.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Incentives and reciprocity have been widely debated within the literature as an alternative to altruism to motivate the public to register and consent to organ donation. This pilot study was the first to examine the views of the UK Polish migrant community toward these issues.
  
  
  METHODS
  One-to-one and small group interviews were conducted in English and Polish to collect data. The interviews were recorded and transcribed and interviews in Polish were translated into English. All transcripts were coded, codes were grouped by theme and emergent themes were constantly compared to the new data until saturation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants were motivated to donate altruistically but would accept reciprocity for organs once consent was given. Payment for organs was viewed as unfavourable but participants would accept contribution toward funeral expenses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Deceased organ donation was viewed as an 'altruistic gift'. 'Altruism' and 'gift' are problematic in deceased organ donation and could explain the challenges that arise in the incentives and reciprocity debate. Mauss's gift exchange theory could frame incentives as forming the 'obligation to give' and could encourage registration but could lead to coercion. Reciprocity could benefit families and be viewed as 'fair' and a token of gratitude.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health Research, University of Bedfordshire, Luton, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Chloe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sharp
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health Research, University of Bedfordshire, Luton, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Gurch
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Randhawa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000533:Altruism; D001293:Attitude to Death; D002102:Cadaver; D005260:Female; D005655:Funeral Rites / Q000523:psychology; D037921:Gift Giving; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D011044:Poland / Q000208:ethnology; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000191:economics*; D014171:Transients and Migrants / Q000523:psychology*; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult