Awareness of Organ Donation, Prospective Behavior and Reasons why they do or do not Donate by Ethnicity

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate ethnic differences in: 1) awareness of organ donation, 2) prospective behavior and 3) reasons for/for not donating organs upon death. A total of 852 Mexican-Americans and Whites were sampled from two different locations in the U.S. Subjects were asked questions about their awareness and knowledge of organ donation, if they had signed an organ donation card or talked to their family about it, and their reasons why or why they would not donate organs. Several significant differences were found between the ethnic groups. In both locations, Mexican-Americans were less knowledgeable about an organ donor card. Differences in the results between El Paso and San Marcos locations were explained by different levels of income in the Mexican-American samples.