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Attitudes towards brain death and conceptions of the body in relation to willingness or reluctance to donate: results of a student survey before and after the German transplantation scandals and legal changes

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Abstract

Background

In Germany, two events regarding organ donation in 2012 happened: media reported about allocation scandals and regulations concerning regular public information were implemented. Public mistrust as a result of the scandals was repeatedly utilized to explain the current decrease in donation rates.

Methods

To test for public attitudes towards organ donation, a comprehensive survey with 55 sets of closed questions was conducted twice (2008/09 and 2014/15) with students of medicine and economics (total n = 1403) at the University of Göttingen. Statistical analysis involved a multivariate regression using R 3.2 and focused on potential pre/post-shifts in willingness and on social or attitudinal factors linked with reluctance to donate.

Results

The survey revealed that donation willingness increased (58–75%); in 2014 twice as many held a donor card (24–52%). The majority in both periods agreed that there is a problem of fair allocation (64–74%). Only a small minority considered transplantation well regulated pre- (15%) and post-scandal (11%; p < 0.05 sig.). Analysis of attitudes for reluctance identified non-acceptance of the brain death criterion and sharing a holistic conception of the body linking the human body to personal identity.

Conclusions

Reluctance to donate seems to be linked to deeper cultural attitudes.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Gitit Bar-On, Klaus Hoeyer, Myfanwy Morgan and Jochem Rieger for comments on an earlier version.

Authorship

Silke Schicktanz was responsible for planning of the study, conception of survey and analysis, figures, manuscript preparation and finalization. Larissa Pfaller took care of statistical analysis, manuscript preparation and figures, and Solveig L. Hansen was in charge of background analysis of current state of the art technologies, data collection and manuscript preparation. Moritz Boos contributed to statistical analysis and figures.

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Correspondence to Silke Schicktanz.

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Conflict of interest

All authors state that they do not have any conflict of interest.

Funding

This study is part of the research project GZ SCHI 631/7-1 funded by the German Research Foundation.

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Schicktanz, S., Pfaller, L., Hansen, S.L. et al. Attitudes towards brain death and conceptions of the body in relation to willingness or reluctance to donate: results of a student survey before and after the German transplantation scandals and legal changes. J Public Health 25, 249–256 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-017-0786-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-017-0786-3

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