Knowledge and Attitude of Adults Regarding

Common Misconceptions Involved in Organ

Donation
Arun Jose*

Knowledge and Attitude of Adults Regarding Common Misconceptions

Involved in Organ Donation at Selected Urban Community, Bengaluru
Abstract: Organ Donation is a boon to medical industry as it has helped in saving the lives of those
who would have died otherwise. There is a great need for human organs for transplantation. In fact,
the need far exceeds the supply of transplantable organs. There are several reasons for the shortage
of organs. Perhaps the most common reason is that people are hesitant to donate organs because they
don’t have adequate knowledge regarding it. In other cases people don’t wishes to donate his or her
organs may be due to the false beliefs surrounding organ donation.

Objectives: To assess the existing knowledge regarding organ donation among adults. To assess the
attitude regarding organ donation among adults. To correlate knowledge with attitude regarding
organ donation among adults. To associate knowledge and attitude of adults regarding organ
donation with their selected demographic variables
Findings: Assessment of level of knowledge showed that majority 52.22% had moderate knowledge,
only 5.56 % had adequate knowledge and 42.22% of persons had inadequate knowledge regarding
organ donation. Assessment of attitude revealed that the majority 50% had neutral attitude and only
6.67% had favorable attitude towards organ donation. The correlation between the knowledge and
attitude showed that there was a highly positive correlation. There was a statistically significant
association found between level of knowledge and demographic variables such as age, educational
status, occupation, family income and source of information regarding organ donation at p< 0.05
and when compared with attitude also the same demographic variables were significant .
Conclusion: Assessment of knowledge and attitude of organ donation revealed that there was
moderate knowledge and neutral attitude towards organ donation among the urban adults. So the
study concluded that there is prevalence of misconception regarding organ donation among the urban
adults which prevents them in donation of their organs.
Introduction
For all those who are born, there is one event which is certain and inevitable and that is death. Yet we
all live as if we are immortal. When faced with death in the family or in the course of professional
work we are completely unprepared and rudely shocked out of our illusions. Organ Donation is a
boon to medical industry as it has helped in saving the lives of those who would have died otherwise.
There is a great need for human organs for transplantation. In fact, the need far exceeds the supply of
transplantable organs. There are several reasons for the shortage of organs. Perhaps the most common
reason is that people are hesitant to donate organs because they don’t have adequate knowledge
regarding it. In other cases people don’t wishes to donate his or her organs may be due to the false
beliefs surrounding organ donation. There has been a lack of initiative from the Government after the
Organ transplantation Act was passed. So there is a great need for education and motivation both from
the part of people as well as government since main reason for organ shortage is just because of
improper or incomplete knowledge of people in donating their organ.

arunpiravom1986@yahoo.in
Need for the study
Organ transplantation is one of the most spectacular endeavors till date. Medical advances have
contributed tremendously to its success ratio and have led to a significant increase in the number of
transplants being performed. But there is shortage for organs and low response to cadaver organ
donation. The shortage of organs has been due to the reluctance of many family members to donate
due to fear of the surgery causing loss to their health, smaller nuclear families with unmatchable
donors and a deceased donor programme that is still to evolve fully. Though the first cadaver organ
transplant was conducted nearly five years ago in Karnataka, such donations still remain a sporadic
event in the state. Even cricketer Anil Kumble's decision to pledge his organs to society in case of
brain death has not motivated the programme. There are over 1.5 lakh people in need of kidneys in the
country, over one lakh need liver and nearly 50,000 need heart transplant. The researchers own
personal experience while working in the clinical setting in which he has seen patients with ESRD
waiting for a donor and many a times they die waiting for the donor. All these prompted the
researcher to select the present study about common misconceptions involved in organ donation.

Statement of the problem

A study to assess the knowledge and attitude of adults regarding common misconceptions involved in
organ donation at selected urban community, Bengaluru, with a view to develop a pamphlet.

Assumption
Demand for organs is growing but it is not in equilibrium with the supply of organ because people are
hesitant to donate organs. Lack of knowledge and common misconceptions regarding organ donation
may have an influence in the level of attitude in donating their organ.

Hypotheses
H1 - There is a significant correlation between the knowledge and attitude of adults regarding organ
donation.
H2 - There is a significant association between the knowledge and attitude score of adults with
their selected demographic variables.

Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework for the study is based on Health Belief Model. This model represents how
the health is affected by various factors. In the present study these factors are considered as adult’s
knowledge, ideas and attitude, misconceptions about organ donation which has an influence in organ
donation. They may be based on factual information or wrong information. The health belief usually
results from within a person. So, the investigator felt that Becker’s model is suitable as conceptual
framework for this study.
Adult’s knowledge level can be influenced by various factors. The pamphlet which is
prepared by the investigator will reinforce those who have adequate knowledge and positive attitude
towards organ donation. Those who with moderate or inadequate knowledge towards organ donation,
with neutral and negative attitude towards organ donation it will act as a source of information. The
pamphlet will increase awareness, clarifies the doubts, and removes misconceptions, which in turn
increase the knowledge, develops positive attitude towards organ donation and it can be assessed for
further research which is not included in the present study.

arunpiravom1986@yahoo.in
 Individual Factors Modifying Factors Likelihood of Action

. Adults Need o Acquire

Demographic variables such
as age, gender, education,
religion, family income,
occupation, marital status
and history of organ
donation in the family.
Knowledge on organ
donation and Need to
Have Positive Attitude
. Investigator prepares a
pamphlet on organ
donation and distributes.

Perceived
benefit
.Adequate
Knowledge
.Favorable
Attitude
Organ shortage
&
Perceived Individual’s
Knowledge and misconceptions
Attitude
regarding organ Perceived
donation barrier
. Moderate or
Inadequate
Knowledge
. Neutral or
Unfavorable
attitude

Pamphlet on Organ Donation.

Meaning, Need, Organs Which
Can Be Donated, Myths and
Facts.

Cues of action
-Advice from others, media exposure, . Increase awareness
previous experience and family history of . Clarifies the doubts
organ donation . Removes misconceptions
. Develops positive attitude
towards organ donation

Key:
= included in the study
..……. = not included in the study

Figure 1:-Modified Conceptual Framework Based on Rosenstoch’s (1974) Becker’s (1978) Health Belief Model
1

Review of literature
The literature reviewed for the present study was divided under following headings.1)Studies related
to misconceptions involved in organ donation,2) Studies related to adults knowledge and attitude
towards organ donation,3) Studies related to nurses role in promoting organ donation.
A descriptive study conducted at the Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine,
University of Gottingen on public attitudes toward organ donation and its commercialization on 120
urban people. The study found that current political and legal discourse neglects the central role of
reciprocity for lay people and patients. Lake of awareness and misconception is the main cause for
shortage of organ.
A descriptive study conducted at university of Delhi analyzed the opinion and understanding
of adult patients about organ donation and transplantation among 347 samples voluntarily completed a
questionnaire with 17 queries concerning organ donation. The study concluded that lack of interest
and moderately positive attitude of patients toward organ donation and lack of attitude is because of
the prevalence of misconception.
A pilot study conducted at Mumbai regarding knowledge and attitudes of adolescent students
towards organ donation. Students completed a self-administered questionnaire after a lecture. The
questionnaire included all aspects of organ donation such as promoting factors, need, misconceptions
etc. the study found that only 35.5% were willing to donate organs and the fear of medical negligence,
financial problems etc. were the preventing factors in organ donation. The study concluded that
Students' had a lack of information and misconceptions about organ donation.

arunpiravom1986@yahoo.in
 RESEARCH DESIGN
Methodology Descriptive Correlational Research Design

PURPOSE
Research design: To Assess the Knowledge and Attitude of Adults Regarding Common
Misconceptions Involved in Organ Donation

SETTING POPULATION

Upanagar SAMPLING

Urban community, Adults residing in

Bengaluru Upanagar
Systematic Random
sampling DURATION
Aruna Chetana School for
4 weeks
children with special needs,
Malleshwaram,
Samples
90

Instrument

Structured 3 point
Questionnaire Likert scale

KNOWLEDGE &
ATTITUDE
General Information and
Common Misconceptions
Regarding Organ Donation

Data analysis: Descriptive and Inferential Statistics

Findings and conclusion

Description of the tool

The tool consists of three sections
Section A: This section includes demographic proforma consisting of information of adults such
as age, gender, education, religion, family income, occupation, marital status and history of organ
donation in the family

Section B: It consists of structured knowledge questionnaire to assess the level of knowledge

regarding common misconception involved in organ donation among urban adults. This
includes 25 structured questions, which were categorized under two headings.

Section C: This section includes assessing common misconception involved in organ donation
among urban adults with a three point Likert scale. It consists of 25 items which were
categorized under two headings.

Data Collection
Phase 1: In this phase the researcher distributed the structured knowledge questionnaire and
instructions were given on answering the questionnaire and doubts were classified. Each client took
10 minutes to answer the demographic data and 25 minutes to fill the questionnaire.
Phase 2: In this phase the researcher collected the data on level of attitude of the samples by using 3
point Likert scale regarding common misconceptions involved in organ donation. Each client took 25
minutes to fill the Likert scale.
Phase 3 : Based on the results obtained the researcher prepared and administered the pamphlet
regarding common misconceptions involved in organ donation.

arunpiravom1986@yahoo.in
Results
Knowledge regarding organ donation among adults.
The analysis of overall level of knowledge regarding common misconceptions involved in
organ donation depicted that majority 47 (52.22%) of the urban adults had moderate knowledge, 38
(42.22%) had inadequate knowledge and five (6.56%) rests on the side of adequate knowledge.
60% 55.56%
52.22%
48.89% Adequate
50% Moderate
42.22% 42.22%
Inadequate
40%
Percentage

30.00%
30%

20% 14.44%
8.89%
10% 5.56%

0%
General knowledge Misconceptions Overall knowledge
about organ involved in organ
donation donation
Knowledge Aspects

Attitude towards organ donation among adults.

Assessment of attitude among urban adults revealed that the majority 50% had neutral attitude and
only 6.67% had favorable attitude and 43.33% had unfavourable attitude.
50.00%
50% 43.33% Favourable -
(≥75%)
Neutral - (50-
40% 74%)
Unfavourable -
Percentage

30% (<50%)

20%

10% 6.67%

0%
Favourable - Neutral - (50- Unfavourable -
(≥75%) 74%) (<50%)

Level of attitude

Correlation between the knowledge and attitude regarding organ donation among adults.
The correlation between the knowledge and attitude showed that there was a highly positive
correlation between knowledge and attitude regarding common misconception involved in organ
donation. The obtained ‘r’ value was 0.870.

Testing of hypothesis
Association of level of knowledge with demographic variables revealed that there was
statistically significant association found between knowledge and demographic variables such as age,
educational status, occupation, family income and source of information regarding organ donation at
p< 0.05 and when compared with attitude also the same demographic variables were significant

arunpiravom1986@yahoo.in
Nursing implication
The world is moving fast and the same way it has an influence in the medical field. Organ
Donation is a boon to medical industry as it has helped in saving the lives of those who would have
died otherwise. In fact, the need far exceeds the supply of transplantable organs. Nursing research can
be focused on various factors of organ donation, which could help to assess the hindering factors of
organ donation. There is a need for extensive and intensive research in organ donation so that
strategies for educating nurses and public regarding various aspects and phases of cardiac
rehabilitation can be promoted.
Indian Nursing Council and Universities should include organ donation and its need as one of
the main educational aspect in the nursing curriculum because the future nurses can increase the
number of organ donation by educating the patients and clarifying their doubts. In collaboration with
the regulation bodies, educational institutions can arrange and conduct workshops and seminars
regarding organ donation. Hence, the suffering and grieving of the persons who need organs can be
minimized.
Conclusion
Organ Donation is a boon to medical industry as it has helped in saving the lives of those who
would have died otherwise. There is a great need for human organs for transplantation. Worldwide,
the demand for organs is growing, as the supply of organs and tissues for transplantation has not kept
pace with demand. There are several reasons for the shortage of organs. Perhaps the most common
reason is that people are hesitant to donate organs because they don’t have adequate knowledge
regarding it. In other cases people hesitates to donate his or her organs may be due to the false beliefs
surrounding organ donation.
Bibliography
1. Harish Kumar. Death and organ donation. Amritha Journal of Medicine. 2007 Apr; 24(8):2.
2. Dr. Sunil Shroff. Organ Donation and Transplantation - Tribulations and Triumphs - An
Indian Perspective. J Natl Med Assoc. 2006. Jun; 17(11): 957-963.
3. Dr. Raghav Naresh. Organ Donation and Transplantation mythology and reality An Indian
Perspective. Journal of Clinical Transplant. 2006 Sep; 23(13): 779-786.
4. John DJ. Knowledge and decreased organ donation. Transplant proc. 2001; 18(6): 344-356.
5. Dunstan, GR. The ethics of organ donation. British Medical Bulletin. 1997; 53 (4): 921-939.
6. Eaton S. The subtle politics of organ donation: a proposal. Journal of Medical Ethics. 1998;
24: 166-170.
7. Nirmala Nagaraj. State could benefit a lot from changed rules. Times of India. 2009 Sep 9;
Sec A: 4(col. 3).
8. Robert MC. Budget and organ donation policies. British Medical Bulletin 1999; 66 (7): 587-
599.

"What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is
woven into the lives of others." ------Pericles

* Padmashree College of Nursing, Bengaluru

arunpiravom1986@yahoo.in