Defaults versus framing: Revisiting Default Effect and Framing Effect with replications and extensions of Johnson and Goldstein (2003) and Johnson, Bellman, and Lohse (2002)

People tend to stick with a default option instead of switching to another option. For instance, Johnson and Goldstein (2003) found a default effect in an organ donation scenario: if organ donation is the default option, people are more inclined to consent to it. Johnson et al. (2002) found a similar default effect in a health-survey scenarios: if receiving more information about your health is the default, people are more inclined to consent to it. Much of the highly cited, impactful work on these default effects, however, has not been replicated in well-powered samples. In two well-powered samples (N = 1920), we conducted a close replication of the default effect in Johnson and Goldstein (2003) and in Johnson, Bellman, and Lohse (2002). We successfully replicated Johnson and Goldstein (2003). In an extension of the original findings, we also show that default effects are unaffected by the permanence of these selections. We, however, failed to replicate the findings of Johnson, Bellman, and Lohse’s (2002) study; we did not find evidence for a default effect. We did, however, find a framing effect: participants who read a positively-framed scenario consented to receive health-related information at a higher rate than participants who read a negatively framed scenario. We also conducted a conceptual replication of Johnson et al. (2002) that was based on an organ-donation scenario, but this attempt failed to find a default effect. Our results suggest that default effects depend on framing and context. Materials, data, and code are available on: https://osf.io/8wd2b/.

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.

Customising Health Literacy Campaigns for Organ Donation and Transplantation

The organ shortage and the increasing demand for organs are universal, worldwide challenges. Health literacy is a powerful tool that can help to increase awareness about organ donation and transplantation on a large scale and to encourage and sustain support for organ donation. The unique perspectives, experiences, and expectations of medical students, renal patients, and hospital administrative staff across the UK, Netherlands, and Spain on the topic of health literacy (HL) campaigns regarding deceased organ donation (DOD) were recorded in a cross-cultural, qualitative study. Focus group discussions enabled participants to express their views on existing HL campaigns and to propose novel pathways for future campaigns.

People’s Responsibility towards Organ Donation an Unanswered Appeal

People easily agree with the principle of organ donation; nevertheless, when a person dies, their relatives often refuse to honour this agreement. Because of this persistent social conduct, organ shortage is responsible for the rising mortality of patients on organ waiting lists. This sad reality continues despite the ongoing education effort with the enduring slogan: “Organ donation is a gift of life”.