Survey of Public Attitude, Awareness and Beliefs of Organ Donation in Western Region of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Although organ transplantation is often the only preferable treatment for end-stage organ disease, there are not many organ donors in Saudi Arabia. This cross-sectional study analyzed data from 461 subjects recruited from the western region of Saudi Arabia to explore the current public awareness, attitudes and beliefs towards organ donation. The data were collected through a self-administered validated structured questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed and compared by subjects' age and sex using appropriate statistical tests with the level of statistical significance was defined as P ≤ 0.05. The mean age of the studied 461subjects was 28.3 ± 10.9 years, of them 74.0% were females and 26.0% were males. The study findings revealed that 73.5% of the studied subjects were willing to donate their organs with no significant differences between the studied males and females, although only 4.6% of them reported to have a donation card. Religion, money, and age of the recipient appeared to have no role in their willing of organ donation. The majority of the participants knew well the organ which can be donated; although 64.5% of them have no knowledge about the regulations and legislation of organ donation. The participants have also believed that governmental incentives in the form of monetary and health treatment for donor family and awards would be effective in promoting organ donation in the country. A considerable proportion of respondents in this study were willing to donate their organs, in which religion and financial reasons were not factors. The observed low level of knowledge about regulations and legislations necessitates more efforts to spread awareness about such important issues. Future representative national studies are needed before any generalization can be assumed.