Association between organ donation awareness and willingness among Saudi university students

Background: As the global incidence of end-stage organ failure increases, the gap between organ donors and recipients continues to widen. This study was conducted to determine the association between organ donation awareness and organ donation willingness among students of a Saudi university.Design and methods: This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia. Multi-stage stratified random sampling was used to select the required 723 sample size. Estimation of proportion of students who were aware about organ donation and those who were willing to donate their organs was performed using EpiInfo© Version 7. Association between organ donation awareness and willingness was determined using multivariate logistic regression.Results: Nearly 98% of the participants were aware that organ donation saves lives (95% CI: 96.27%-98.53%); 84.09% were aware that Islam allows organ donation (95% CI: 81.25%-86.58%); 64.87% were aware that organ donation is successfully done in Saudi Arabia (95% CI: 61.32%-68.26%); 32.64% were aware that the government gives incentives to the family of an organ donor (95% CI: 29.32%-36.14%). Over half (56.71%) of the students (95% CI: 53.07 - 60.28%) expressed willingness to donate their organs. Positive association was found between awareness on the position of Islam on organ donation (OR=2.7023, p<0.0001) and awareness of that organ donation can be successfully performed in Saudi Arabia (OR=1.9447, p=0.0001).Conclusion: Awareness that Islam allows organ donation and awareness that organ donation is successfully done in Saudi Arabia increased the students’ willingness to donate.

German Laypeople’s Willingness to Donate Toward Insect Conservation: Application of an Extended Protection Motivation Theory

It is essential to engage the public in conservation measures to conserve insects. We investigate the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), as well as knowledge, attitudes, and sociodemographic variables (gender, age, education level, and income) as predictors of willingness to donate (WTD) and actual donations to insect conservation for a representative German sample (N = 515; MAge = 49.36, SD = 16.73; female = 50.1%). The PMT subcomponents severity, self-efficacy, and response efficacy, as well as attitudes toward insects, income, and education level, significantly predicted WTD. In contrast, severity, response barriers, age, gender, and the WTD significantly influenced actual donations. Overall, components of the PMT have high predictive power for both dependent variables. Our results suggest that an intention-behavior gap exists between the intention to donate and the actual donation toward insect conservation. Measures to increase WTD and actual donations for insect conservation are discussed.

Postpartum women’s views on human milk banking in a city in Southeast China: a cross-sectional survey

Background Donor human milk is the best alternative for preterm infants when their mother’s own milk is insufficient or unavailable. The development of human milk banks in China started late, and in most of these banks, the amount of donor human milk is insufficient for clinical demand. Moreover, many mothers are reluctant to use donor human milk due to safety concerns. It is important to understand the potential supply and demand of donor human milk before establishing a new human milk bank. This study aimed to understand women’s acceptance of human milk banking in Wenzhou, southeastern China. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in three community health centers in Wenzhou, southeast China, in December 2020. Data were collected from 305 postpartum women selected through convenience sampling. Sociodemographic, perinatal and breastfeeding characteristics, awareness and knowledge of human milk banking and willingness to donate human milk, and to accept donor human milk were assessed. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to explore independent predictors of willingness to donate human milk and to accept donor human milk. Results Only 17% (52/305) of our participants had heard of human milk banking prior to this survey. The prevalence of willingness to donate human milk and use donor human milk in our study was 73.4% (224/305) and 44.6% (136/305), respectively. Employment (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 2.30; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.17, 4.50) and human milk banking knowledge (AOR 1.23; 95% CI 1.12, 1.35) were independent predictors of willingness to donate human milk. Monthly household income in the previous year (AOR 2.18; 95% CI 1.17, 4.06), awareness of human milk banking (AOR 2.41; 95% CI 1.24, 4.67) and knowledge of human milk banking (AOR 1.22; 95% CI 1.11, 1.35) were significantly associated with willingness to accept donor human milk. Conclusions In our study, awareness of human milk banks among women in the first year postpartum was low. More mothers were willing to donate human milk than to use donor human milk to feed their children. In our study, knowledge of human milk banking was a predictor of both willingness to donate human milk and willingness to use donor human milk. Programs with detailed information on human milk banking are needed to help mothers improve their knowledge and increase acceptance of human milk banking.

Public Attitudes Towards Sharing Loyalty Card Data for Academic Health Research: a Qualitative Study

Background: A growing number of studies show the potential of loyalty card data for use in health research. However, research into public perceptions of using this data is limited. This study aimed to investigate public attitudes towards donating loyalty card data for academic health research, and the safeguards the public would want to see implemented. The way in which participant attitudes varied according to whether loyalty card data would be used for either cancer or COVID-19 research was also examined. Methods: Participants (N=40) were recruited via Prolific Academic to take part in semi-structured telephone interviews, with questions focused on data sharing related to either COVID-19 or ovarian/bowel cancer as the proposed health condition to be researched. Content analysis was used to identify sub-themes corresponding to the two a priori themes, attitudes and safeguards.Results: Participant attitudes were found to fall into two categories, either rational or emotional. Under rational, most participants were in favour of sharing loyalty card data. Support of health research was seen as an important reason to donate such data, with loyalty card logs being considered as already within the public domain. With increased understanding of research purpose, participants expressed higher willingness to donate data. Within the emotional category, participants shared fears about revealing location information and of third parties obtaining their data. With regards to safeguards, participants described the importance of anonymisation and the level of data detail; the control, convenience and choice they desired in sharing data; and the need for transparency and data security. The change in hypothetical purpose of the data sharing, from Covid-19 to cancer research, had no impact on participants’ decision to donate, although did affect their understanding of how loyalty card data could be used. Conclusions: Based on interviews with the public, this study contributes recommendations for those researchers and the wider policy community seeking to obtain loyalty card data for health research. Whilst participants were largely in favour of donating loyalty card data for academic health research, information, choice and appropriate safeguards are all exposed as prerequisites upon which decisions are made.

The Effect of the Number and Identification of Recipients on Organ-Donation Decisions

We examined how presentations of organ donation cases in the media may affect people’s decisions about organ donation issues. Specifically, we focused on the combined effect of the information about the number of recipients saved by the organs of one deceased person (one vs. four) and the identifiability of the donor and the recipient(s) in organ donation descriptions, on people’s willingness to donate the organs of a deceased relative. Results suggest that reading about more people who were saved by the organs of a deceased donor does not increase willingness to donate. Replicating earlier research, we found that reading about a case of organ donation involving an identified deceased donor, deceased willingness to donate. However, this effect was attenuated when participants read about more recipients who were saved by the donation. Importantly, the presentation that prompted the greatest willingness to donate a deceased relative’s organs was the one that featured an unidentified donor and only one identified recipient. Finally, an explorative investigation into participants’ subconscious thoughts of death following the organ donation story revealed that identifying a deceased organ donor prompts more thoughts of death in the perceiver (regardless of the number of recipients).

Perspectives on Genetic Research: Results From a Survey of Navajo Community Members

The Navajo Nation placed a moratorium on genetic research studies in 2002, in part due to concerns about historical distrust, exploitation, limited expertise and resources, and the lack of a genetics policy. Navajo tribal leaders, scientists, and policy experts are exploring the possibility of lifting the moratorium, developing a genetic research policy, and discussing its potential health implications. This study aimed to identify the key concerns, needs, and desires of Navajo people regarding genetic research. We conducted a survey of Navajo individuals to assess knowledge of the moratorium and research, gauge interest in genetic research, and quantify appropriate genetic research topics to understand broad views and concerns. We performed descriptive statistics and tested associations between relevant categorical variables using Chi-square tests. We hypothesized that individuals with more knowledge about the moratorium and health research increased the likelihood of supporting and participating in genetic research. A total of 690 surveys from Navajo respondents were analyzed. Of these, 63% of respondents reported being unaware of the Navajo Nation’s moratorium on genetic research. There were positive associations between those who knew about the moratorium and willingness to donate biospecimens for research under certain conditions, such as community involvement, review and approval by community leaders, research on diseases affecting the community, and support for lifting the moratorium (p-values &lt; 0.001). We found no significant differences between age, gender, religious/spiritual beliefs, or agency affiliation with knowledge levels of genetics and related topics, participation in relation to beliefs, and donation of biospecimens. Interestingly, respondents who resided off the Navajo Nation were positively associated with having knowledge of the moratorium, having heard of discussions of genetics on the Navajo Nation, and the lawsuit filed by the Havasupai Tribe. Most respondents agreed that it was very important to develop a policy that incorporates cultural knowledge (56%), is beneficial (56%), and has data sharing protections (59%) before allowing genetic research on the Navajo Nation. Overall, a large proportion of respondents (46%) were unsure about lifting the moratorium and instead wanted more genetics education to assess its potential implications. The study results can inform the direction of future guidelines and policies.

Investigation of hesitancy to donate plasma among COVID-19 survivors in Goa: an online survey

Background: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic led to surge in mortality. In the absence of definitive treatment, convalescent plasma therapy was accepted as a modality to treat COVID-19 patients. There exists hesitancy with regards to COVID-19 convalescent plasma donation. To find the deterrents to CCP donation.Methods: An online survey was conducted by snowball technique. The study participants were COVID-19 survivors. They were asked to express their willingness to donate CCP. The reasons for not donating CCP were recorded. The data was analyzed using R-program. The adjusted and unadjusted Odds ratios were calculated to find the predictors of willingness to donate CCP.Results: 110 study participants responded to the survey. 49.1% of the responders were willing to donate plasma. The top three deterrents of CCP donation were ill health (27.6%; 95% CI, 18.28%-39.27%), ineligibility (10.5%; 95% CI, 4.98%-20.21%), not recovered completely (6.58%; 95% CI, 2.45%-15.34%). The female gender, older age, being symptomatic, unaware of government incentives, tested by RAT, and unaware of CPT were associated with lower odds of donating CCP.Conclusions: Ill health, ineligibility, and perceived incomplete recovery were the major deterrents of CCP donation. Being female, older age, being symptomatic, unaware of government incentives, tested by RAT, and unaware of CPT were associated with lower willingness to donate CCP. There is a need to develop interventions to target these factors to improve CCP donation whenever it is indicated.