Abstract
One of the obstacles to organ donation and transplantation in Turkey is that of religious beliefs and, at this point, religious officials constitute a key aspect of this problem. Positive or negative viewpoints held by religious officials regarding organ donation and transplantation are influential in guiding the public. This descriptive study was conducted for the purpose of describing religious officials’ viewpoints on this subject. To determine the opinions of 40 religious officials from among the imams and muezzins working in Zeytinburnu District Mufti (Religious Officials Superior) Station who participated in a normal meeting in April and who fully completed the survey. A 27-question survey form was used that consisted of open-ended and closed questions, 5 of which were on socio-demographic characteristics, 13 on viewpoints on organ donation and transplantation, and 9 on the Islamic viewpoint regarding organ donation and transplantation. For the analysis of the results, Student’s t test and one-way ANOVA tests were used. It was found that all of the religious officials believed in the importance of organ donation, 80 % considered donating their organs, and 5 % had made an organ donation. Of the religious officials who had not donated organs, 35 % gave an answer that there was no specific reason and 27.5 % stated that they had never considered the subject. While the number of those stating that they would donate the organs of a close associate who had died, 77.5 % of them who did not want to donate gave as their reason the idea that if it were him, he would perhaps not want to give his organs after death. Of the religious officials questioned, 92.5 % asserted that the religion of Islam looked positively on organ donation and transplantation, 55 % stated that the knowledge of religious officials in the country was inadequate regarding this subject, and 65 % said that for interest in organ donation to increase, religious officials should make speeches and raise the issue with the public in conversations, meetings, and sermons. Fully 85 % asserted that for interest in organ donation in Turkey to increase, religious officials have to lead on the subject. Of those questioned, 52.5 % considered their knowledge on organ donation and transplantation to be adequate and that they had obtained 52.5 % of such information from seminars/conferences, 50 % from television/radio, and 45 % from Directorate of Religious Affairs publications. However, 40 % expressed that they did not know where organ donations were made. One reason for inadequate organ donation in Turkey is that of incorrect religious beliefs. Thus, it is necessary that informative efforts are made by the Directorate of Religious Affairs through in-house training programs, and that healthcare, religious, and legal officials work jointly to inform the public about organ donation, organ transplantation, and brain death. Additionally, religious officials should donate organs by the way of example and, to increase their sensitivity, healthcare professionals should go more frequently to mosques and Mufti Stations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akdemir, H. (2005). Evolution of the Quran in terms of organ transplantation. Journal of Harran University Faculty of Theology, 14, 7–13.
Akış, M., Katırcı, E., Uludağ, H. Y., Küçükkılıç, B., Gürbüz, T., Türker, Y., et al. (2008). Knowledge and attitudes of Süleyman Demirel University’s staff towards organ donation and transplantation. Journal of The Suleyman Demirel University Faculty of Medicine, 15, 28–33.
Alam, A. A. (2007). Public opinion on organ donation in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Journal of Kidney Disease and Transplantation, 18, 54–59.
Alashek, W., Ehtuish, E., Elhabashi, A., Emberish, W., & Mishra, A. (2009). Reasons for unwillingness of Libyans to donate organs after death. The Libyan Journal of Medicine, 4, 110–113.
AlSebayel, M. I., & Khalaf, H. (2004). Knowledge and attitude of intensivists toward organ donation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Transplantation Proceedings, 36, 1883–1884.
Bruzzone, P. (2008). Religious aspects of organ transplantation. Transplantation Proceedings, 40, 1064–1067.
Çolak, M., Ersoy, K., Haberal, M., Gürdamar, D., & Gerçek, Ö. (2008). A household study to determine attitudes and beliefs related to organ transplantation and donation: A pilot study in Yapracık village, Ankara, Turkey. Transplantation Proceedings, 40, 29–33.
Dontlu, A. Ç. (2004). Ethical, religious and legal aspects of organ donation and transplantation. Dialysis, Transplantation and Burns, 13, 125–130.
Faith Perspectives on Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation: Report. The Canadian Council for Donation and Transplantation 2006, http://www.legacyoflife.ns.ca.
Güden, E., Çetinkaya, F. & Naçar, M. (2013). Attitudes and behaviors regarding organ donation: A study on officials of religion in Turkey. Journal of Religion and Health, 52, 439–449.
Keçecioğlu, N., Tuncer, M., Yücetin, L., Akaydın, M., & Yakupoğlu, G. (2000). Attitudes of religious people in Turkey regarding organ donation and transplantation. Transplantation Proceedings, 32, 629–630.
Laouad, I., Hbali, G., Mouhoub, R., Fadili, W., Lisri, M., & Kaitouni, A. L. (2011). Knowledge and attitudes of Moroccan hemodialysis patients toward renal transplantation: did we inform our patients enough. Transplantation Proceedings, 423, 445–447.
Mohsim, M., Militsala, E., Budriddin, M., AlKhawaldi, H., AlDhuhli, Y., AlRahbi, Y., et al. (2010). Attitude of the Omani population toward organ donation. Transplantation Proceedings, 42, 4305–4308.
Naçar, M., Çetinkaya, F., Baykan, Z., & Poyrazoğlu, S. (2009). Attitudes and behaviors of students from the faculty of theology regarding organ donation: A study from Turkey. Transplantation Proceedings, 41, 4057–4061.
Özer, A., Ekerbiçer, H. C., Çelik, M., & Naçar, M. (2010). Knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of officials of religion about organ donation in Kahramanmaras, an Eastern Mediterranean city of Turkey. Transplantation Proceedings, 42, 3363–3367.
Özer, F. G., Karamanoğlu, A. Y., Beydağ, K. D., Fidancıoğlu, H., Akıncı, E., Şanlı, İ., et al. (2008). Effect of education on a group of university school for health sciences students’ opinions and knowledge level about organ transplantation and donation. TAF Preventive Medicine Bulletin, 7, 39–46.
Özkan, S. & Yılmaz, E. (2009). Knowledge and attitudes of patients’ relatives towards organ donation. Family and Public Education, Culture and Research Journal, 18–29.
Rumsey, S., Hurford, D. P., & Cole, A. K. (2003). Influence of knowledge and religiousness on attitudes toward organ donation. Transplantation Proceedings, 35, 2845–2850.
Saha, M., Hadiuzzaman, K. M., Faroque, M. O., Alam, K. S., Haque, M. A., & Paul, B. K. (2011). Awareness about organ donation among schoolgirls. My Mensingh Medical Journal: MMJ, 20, 287–291.
Saleem, T., İshaque, S., Habib, N., Hussain, S. S., Jawed, A., Khan, A. A., et al. (2009). Knowledge, attitudes and practices survey on organ donation among selected adult population of Pakistan. BMC Medical Ethics, 10, 5–17.
Tebourski, F., Jaouadi, N., Ban, A. D., Benamar-Elqaaied, A., & Ayed, M. (2003). Attitude of health personnel to organ donation and transplantation. La Tunisie Medicale, 7, 482–487.
Topbaş, M., Türkyılmaz, S., Çan, G., Ulusoy, Ş., Kalyoncu, M., Kaynar, K., et al. (2011). Information, attitude and behavior toward organ transplantation and donation among health workers in the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey. Transplantation Proceedings, 43, 773–777.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tarhan, M., Dalar, L., Yildirimoglu, H. et al. The View of Religious Officials on Organ Donation and Transplantation in the Zeytinburnu District of Istanbul. J Relig Health 54, 1975–1985 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-014-9851-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-014-9851-1