Open AccessA survey of the public attitudes towards organ donation in a Turkish community and of the changes that have taken place in the last 12 years
Author(s) -
Bilgel Halil,
Sadikoglu Ganime,
Goktas Olgun,
Bilgel Nazan
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
transplant international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.998
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1432-2277
pISSN - 0934-0874
DOI - 10.1111/j.1432-2277.2004.tb00416.x
Subject(s) - turkish , organ donation , medicine , donation , family medicine , demography , transplantation , surgery , law , sociology , philosophy , linguistics , political science
In 1990 we carried out a survey on public attitudes toward organ donation in a Turkish community. We repeated this study 12 years later in order to evaluate the changes that had taken place in the meantime. Using the same questionnaire and method, we repeated the study in a different part of the city with similar socio‐economic characteristics as in the former area, which had in the meantime ceased to be our research and training area. The 983 participants were chosen by a random stratified method. Of those interviewed, 57.0% were willing to donate, while 18.3% refused and 24.7% were uncertain. A total of 52.6% consented to donation. Twelve years later, some public attitudes toward organ donation had changed. Refusal to donate for religious reasons had diminished (16.1% versus 26.2%); uncertainty whether to donate had risen (24.7% versus 15.8%). Attitudes towards organ donation were clearly related to educational level, age and sex.