Solving the Dilemma: Family Communication About Organ Donation Among Chinese, Japanese, and Caucasian American College Students

An empirical investigation on the impact of attitudes towards organ donation in India

Background: Organ shortage is a global issue and it is imperative to take steps to bridge this gap. In the Indian context, despite its demographic dividend, the rate of organ donation has been abysmally low. This emphasizes a need to demystify the antecedents of organ donation intention among the Indian population. Methods: Using a cross-sectional research design and adopting a post-positivism research philosophy, this study identified 259 respondents by adopting a purposive sampling approach and data on knowledge of organ donation was collected using a structured, pretested questionnaire. Results: Awareness of organ donation law in India is low on specific issues and respondents from the health science & medicine discipline scored better on knowledge about organ donation. The findings show that most participants had heard about organ donation and had a favourable attitude toward it. The primary sources of information on organ donation were television and newspapers, and healthcare service providers. A complementary partial median is established (β = .217, t = 5.889, p < .001) which implies that willingness to discuss with family significantly mediates the association between attitude towards organ & tissue donation and willingness to sign the donor card. Conclusion: This study revealed that there is a general awareness of organ and tissue donation among the Indian population, but they lack clarity on certain specific issues. Mass media has to be effectively used to build awareness campaigns revolving around enhancing knowledge on a specific issue and building acceptance of the concept of organ and tissue donation.

A Systematic Literature Review and Research Agenda for Organ Donation Decision Communication

Background:

This study systematically located and appraised peer-reviewed evidence for the efficacy of strategies to increase organ donation decision communication among adults including an assessment of study quality to guide future research in this field. There is little room to move in strengthening unanimously positive public attitudes toward organ donation. Consequently, researchers have called for a focus on organ donation decision communication to understand modifiable factors to increase organ donation rates.

Methods:

Multiple databases were searched during September 2015, and 44 studies were selected for inclusion. Data concerning participants, design, and outcomes were extracted. Studies were rated for quality and levels of evidence.

Findings:

Although not amenable to meta-analysis, the literature indicates that approximately 50% of adults who are willing to become an organ donor have discussed this decision with family. The majority of research was conducted in a Western context with an overrepresentation of students. Strategies to increase communication include education, motivation, input from lived experience, efforts to address salient audience beliefs, and scheduled reminders or prompts. Intentions and willingness to discuss organ donation were consistently positively related to discussion behavior; however, formative research and experimental studies testing theoretically driven interventions were scarce.

Conclusions:

There is mixed evidence for the role of demographic and attitudinal characteristics in the success of organ donation communication interventions. Additional theoretically based research is recommended to establish boundary conditions and validate strategies to increase organ donation decision communication among adults.

Chinese attitudes, norms, behavioral control and gambling involvement in Macao

This study tested the applicability of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) on gambling intention and involvement in a representative Chinese sample in Macao, recruited by a random residential number dialing method. We successfully interviewed 685 respondents, with about one-third of them reporting that they had participated in gambling activities during the 12 months prior to the interview. The results of structural equation modeling suggested that favorable attitudes toward superstition and techniques, poor sense of perceived behavioral control over gambling refusal, and high gambling intention increased vulnerability to excessive gambling involvement. These findings generally support the efficacy of the TPB in explaining gambling intention and involvement among both Chinese gamblers and non-gamblers. Some practical implications of the findings are discussed within the Chinese context.

The effect of parasocial interaction on intention to register as organ donors through entertainment-education programs in Korea

This study is based on the theory of reasoned action and self-efficacy, and it examines the mediating role of attitude, subjective norm, and self-efficacy between parasocial interaction and the intention to donate organs. Judgment sampling was used and 329 respondents were participated in the survey. Participants consisted of 102 males (30.9%) and 227 females (69.1%), and their ages ranged from 13 to 77 years. The Cronbach's α for each scale was .81 for parasocial interaction scale (M = 3.01, SD = 0.55), .89 for attitude scale (M = 4.28, SD = 0.55), .89 for subjective norm (M = 4.28, SD = 0.55), and .76 for self-efficacy (M = 3.31, SD = 0.89). The level of parasocial interaction was found to be significantly associated with attitude and subjective norms that predicted intention to register as organ donors. Although the mediating effect of self-efficacy between parasocial interaction and intention has been proven, self-efficacy showed a conflicting result in the process of model testing in that the level of parasocial interaction affected the degree of subjective norms, which in turn influenced intention by enhancing self-efficacy. The results indicate that parasocial interaction has an indirect effect on intention to register as organ donors through attitude and subjective norms. It is expected that this finding contributes to developing a number of strategies to encourage people's intention to register as organ donors.

The impact of social, cognitive and attitudinal dimensions on college students' support for organ donation

This study investigates how college students can be social support catalysts for organ donation and how social, cognitive and attitudinal dimensions impact organ donor registration. A total of 317 people participated in the exploratory portion of the project and a total of 1800 responses were obtained from an online survey to members of a national student organization. The findings show that perceptions of the benefits of organ donation and altruistic motives had the greatest impact on the support for organ donation while respondents' knowledge about how to register to be an organ donor was the dominant dimension for donor registration status. Social-based communications had the next greatest impact for both support and donor registration. Based on the findings, an 18-month social media campaign was launched with the student organization that had 20 421 website visitors, 4473 Facebook members, 1189 YouTube video submissions with 164 000 views, motivated 19 623 people to go to a state's organ donor registration page, and had 9000 documented organ donor registrations. Within the student organization, organ donor registration increased by 28%. On the basis of these project results, Donate Life America and other sponsors have provided funding for two additional years.