| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5729382 | Transplantation Proceedings | 2016 | 5 Pages |
â¢The majority of respondents of the survey received their knowledge from television and social media networks.â¢The source of information of organ donation from healthcare providers was minimal.â¢Knowledge of the religious legislation (fatwa) of organ donation is increased.â¢The participants were willing to donate to non-relatives.â¢A low percentage of the respondents thought that brain death was reversible.
BackgroundOrgan transplantation is the optimal treatment for end-stage organ diseases. The demand for organs has exceeded the available supply, which becomes a major obstacle worldwide. Identifying the factors affecting this gap will help in overcoming this obstacle. The purpose of the work was to study the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of organ donation and to determine the knowledge of brain death among social media users.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among social media users living in Saudi Arabia. A pre-designed self-administrated questionnaire was distributed online randomly on social media networks in 2015. Of the total 1368 participants, only 913 met the criteria.ResultsMost respondents were between 18 and 29 years of age (61.2%) and living in the central region of Saudi Arabia (64.5%). The majority of respondents received their information from television (57%) and social media (50%) networks; 46.4% of respondents knew that the religious fatwa allowed organ donation; 51% of respondents were willing to donate their organs; 46.5% considered the brain-dead to be deceased, whereas 37.7% considered it a coma; 33.3% did not know if someone who was brain-dead would ever wake up; on the other hand, 323 (35.4%) said yes.ConclusionsOur study showed that the vast majority of our sample had enough information about organ donation. On the contrary, they had minimal knowledge about brain death. Moreover, a fair percentage of the participants had positive attitudes toward organ donation. Also, the media had a significant effect on the information about organ donation and brain death.
