The perspective of our future doctors towards organ donation: a national representative study from India

The Willingness to Donate Organs in Medical Students From an International Perspective: A Meta-Analysis

Attitude toward organ donation mobilizes donation behavior and makes transplant surgery possible. As future health professionals, medical students will be a relevant generating opinion group and will have an important role in the organ requesting process. The goals of this meta-analysis were to obtain polled rates of medical students who are in favor, against, or indecisive toward cadaveric organ donation in the studies conducted around the world, and to explore sociocultural variables influencing the willingness to donate. Electronic search and revision of references from previous literature allowed us to locate 57 studies fulfilling the inclusion criteria. Data extraction and risk of bias assessment were performed by two independent investigators. Pooled estimations were computed assuming a random-effects model. Despite the fact that willingness to donate was elevated in medical students, estimated rates in studies from different geographical areas and sociocultural backgrounds exhibited significant differences. The age and the grade of the students also influenced the rate of students in favor. Donation campaigns should take into account cultural factors, especially in countries where certain beliefs and values could hamper organ donation. Also, knowledge and skills related to organ donation and transplant should be acquired early in the medical curriculum when a negative attitude is less resistant to change.

Barriers towards deceased organ donation among Indians living globally: an integrative systematic review using narrative synthesis

OBJECTIVES

To understand the barriers towards deceased organ donation among Indians living globally.

DESIGN

Integrative systematic review using narrative synthesis.

DATA SOURCES

CINAHL, Medline full-text, PsycInfo, Scopus, Global Health, Web of Science, and PubMed Central, Indian Journal of Transplantation and Google Scholar.

TIME PERIOD

1 January 1994 to 31 December 2021.

PARTICIPANTS

Individuals of Indian origin living globally.

RESULTS

Eighty-nine studies were included with more than 29 000 participants and quality of the studies were assessed using Joanna Briggs Institute's critical appraisal tool. Though majority of the participants had knowledge toward organ donation with a positive influence on willingness, the gap between knowledge and willingness was huge, with minimal registration influenced by the complex sociocultural constructs. Various sociocultural constructs such as family, fear and mistrust, religion, and bodily issues play a vital role. Differences were identified in willingness to donate and register between southern and other regions of India. Indian's organ donation behaviour in other geographical locations differed based on the socioreligious background of the country they lived in such as in Malaysia, Canada and the UK. However, they were collective in decision-making and had complex sociocultural interference irrespective of the country the individual lived which differed only in their next generations.

CONCLUSION

Though this study showed the complex relationship, and its influences on organ donation behaviour, lacunae were identified to further understand how such complex interactions determine or inform the behaviour. Also, methodological issues were identified, where this particular population outside India were collectively studied with their neighbouring population which are not homogenous. Studies in India majorly addressed a similar aim using similar methods which produced repetition of studies leading to lack of diversified, wider and in-depth research. Therefore, while this systematic review addressed the barriers toward organ donation among Indians living globally, it also informs various gaps in research and also methodological issues.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER

CRD42019155274.