Real Donors, Real Consent: Testing the Theory of Reasoned Action on Organ Donor Consent

In an attempt to apply the theory of reasoned action (TRA) to the process underlying organ donor consent, participants completed questionnaires concerning their affective responses to organ donation, as well as their intentions to donate. Participants were given the opportunity to sign an organ donor card. Those who chose to sign the card had more positive attitudes about donation, perceived donation as something that their reference group would encourage, and had stronger intentions to consent to signing a card. The current investigation extends the organ donor literature by using a true behavioral outcome measure indicating consent. Moreover, the pattern of results between attitudes, norms, intention, and behavior illustrates the usefulness of applying the TRA to yet another health-related behavior.     

Intrinsic-Extrinsic Religiosity and University Students' Willingness to Donate Organs Posthumously

This research focuses on the links between intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientations as they relate to willingness to donate organs posthumously. Participants responded to a factual test of their knowledge about organ donation, indicated their degree of willingness to donate organs, and filled out personality inventories measuring their intrinsic and extrinsic orientations. The data indicated a high level of factual knowledge about organ donation. Also, contrary to Allport's (1966) arguments, people with an intrinsic religious orientation were not more likely to donate their organs, nor were people with an extrinsic religious orientation less likely to do so. Instead, it was found that intrinsic religiosity was unrelated to willingness to donate organs and that extrinsics with strong social orientations were more willing to donate their organs. Discussion centers on the need to develop more psy-chometrically sound measures of mature religiosity as a means of conducting a fairer test of Allport's original theorizing about intrinsic religiosity.     

Gender Differences in Family Communication About Organ Donation

In this study we investigated gender differences in willingness to donate organs and conversations with family members about organ donation. Results from a snowball sample of 353 men and 488 women (average age = 41–50) indicated that men are less willing to donate and less likely to have conversations about organ donation. When such conversations do occur, men are less likely to include within them topics of conversation that are associated with more positive responses from family members. Women are more likely to include a mention of their desire to donate organs, discussion of the need for organs, and an explanation of why they would/would not like to donate their organs. They are also more likely to mention moral/altruistic/religious reasons for donation or to tell/use a narrative in the discussion. Men, however, more commonly discussed whether signing a donation card would affect medical care. Women report higher agreed compliance from family members. Directions are provided for future research and campaign development by taking these differences into consideration.     

Death anxiety,altruism, self‐efficacy,and organ donation intention among Japanese college students: A moderated mediation analysis

The shortage of organs for transplantation in Japan has alerted health professionals to the low organ donation rate among Japanese people. The unique cultural view of death and altruism has been suggested leading to their low intent to donate cadaveric organs. A cross‐sectional survey was conducted in Japan to investigate the interplay of death anxiety, altruism, and self‐efficacy in influencing Japanese college students' intention to sign donor cards, in order to mobilise this large potential source of organ donors in the future. Six hundred and seven Japanese non‐donor card signers voluntarily completed a self‐administered questionnaire. The results of mediation and moderated mediation analyses with bootstrap approach suggest that death anxiety indirectly hinders Japanese people's intention to become a donor card signer through lowering of self‐efficacy, while altruism intensifies the positive impact of self‐efficacy on signing intention. These findings provide useful insights for organ procurement organisations seeking behavioural change not only in Japan but also in multi‐ethnic societies with a substantial Japanese population.     

Value Priorities and Organ Donation in Young Adults

This research identifies major personal values among American university students that predict organ-donation registration with the Department of Motor Vehicles. Participants responded to a factual test of their knowledge about organ donation, indicated whether or not they had registered as posthumous donors, and filled out a personality inventory measuring their personal values (Schwartz, 1992, 1994). The data indicated a high level of factual knowledge about organ donation; and the greater the level of knowledge, the more likely participants were registered to donate their organs. Also, participants higher in benevolence, universalism, achievement, and stimulation were more likely to have registered to donate their organs. The results are discussed in terms of the need to develop more effective health-communication campaigns by using specific health-education messages tailored to students majoring in different disciplines or to people in various occupations as a means of increasing their willingness to donate.     

Similarities and Differences Between African Americans’ and European Americans’ Attitudes,Knowledge, and Willingness to Communicate About Organ Donation1

While little is known about African Americans’ attitudes and knowledge about organ donation, even less is known about how African Americans’ attitudes, values, and beliefs affect their behavior and behavioral intentions regarding organ donation; or how African Americans’ views are similar to or different from those of European Americans. Adults working 2 sites of a national corporation were randomly selected to complete a survey about organ donation willingness, intention to sign an organ donor card, knowledge and attitudes toward organ donation, and level of altruism. Results indicate that African Americans differ significantly from Whites on several individual attitude and knowledge items. However, the basic relationship between knowledge, attitudes, values, and behaviors regarding organ donation between the 2 groups appears the same. Furthermore, these results indicate that future organ donation promotion campaigns must focus on increasing basic knowledge and countering myths about organ donation for both populations.     

Effects of Refutational Messages,Thought Provocation,and Decision Deadlines on Signing to Donate Organs1

Across three experiments college students were given refutational messages or other treatments encouraging signing drivers' licenses to donate bodily organs in case of accidental death. An attitudinal measure (willingness to sign) predicted observed signing behavior, but relatively weakly. A measure of behavioral expectation to sign or not to sign predicted more strongly. A discussion with family was encouraged, the impact of that discussion also predicted signing but less strongly so. In Study 1 groups given a refutational message signed at no greater rates than a group given a control message. In Study 2 a refutational message group and a group asked to think about donating for 2 min signed at higher rates than a true control group. In Study 3 groups asked to decide whether or not to sign by a certain date and time signed at a higher rate than a refutational message group as in earlier studies. These procedures are recommended for organ donation signing campaigns.     

The role of psychosocial factors in predicting the formalized human milk donation to nonprofit milk banks

Human milk donation is important for improving the development of preterm infants. However, despite the importance of donating the human milk, relatively little research has tested which factors predict this form of donation. This study assessed the association between the psychosocial factors and formalized milk donation to a nonprofit milk bank. This study used a cross-sectional design. Breastfeeding mothers (N = 556) completed measures assessing altruism, pride, instrumental and affective attitudes, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, self-efficacy, anxiety, and intention to donate human milk to a nonprofit milk bank. We also assessed whether participants requested additional information about donating the human milk. Instrumental and affective attitude, subjective norm, and self-efficacy were positively associated with intention to donate milk. Self-efficacy and intention were also uniquely associated with requesting the additional information. The intention to engage in the formalized milk donation to a nonprofit milk bank appears to be more likely if women view this action as beneficial, believe significant others support the action and think they have the ability to undertake this action. Women who think they have the ability to undertake this action and are willing to donate are more likely to request additional information. These findings might inform future experimental research and campaigns on the human milk donation.     

Attitudes and Behaviors Regarding Organ Donation: a Study on Officials of Religion in Turkey

The aim of this study is to determine the attitudes and behaviors of religious scholars regarding organ donation and transplantation. In this study, 540 officials working in the Department of Religious Affairs in Kayseri, Turkey, were included. Overall, 86.6% response rate (n = 468) was achieved. Although a majority of the officials of religion in this study stated that they believed in the importance of organ donation (90.8%), the rate of considering donation (57.9%) and the donation rate (1.1%) were found to be substantially low. There is a difference between the employment status and willingness to donate organs. The rate of willingness to donate was significantly high in men than women. And also was high in imams and preachers. Regarding the sources of information, the majority of the respondents (70.0%) cited mass media. Overall, 15.3% cited school education and 42.0% religious publications. The most common question (83.1%) that was asked was “whether or not organ donation was suitable for Muslim religious”. Our study revealed that although the research groups have positive ideas about organ donation and transplantation, their role was low in informing and motivating people about organ donation and transplantation.     

Giving from a distance: Putting the charitable organization at the center of the donation appeal

Past research has shown repeatedly that people prefer donating to a single identified human victim rather than to unidentified or abstract donation targets. In the current research we show results countering the identifiable victim effect, wherein people prefer to donate to charitable organizations rather than to an identifiable victim. In a series of five studies, we manipulate temporal and social distance, examine a variety of donation targets, and measure intention to donate time or money as well as actual donations of money. We show that people are more willing to donate to a charitable organization when they are temporally or socially distant from the population in need. Willingness to donate to a specific person in need is higher when donors are temporally or socially close to the donation target. Furthermore, we demonstrate that (a) empathy mediates donations to a single victim, yet does not mediate donations to charitable organizations; (b) that donation giving to charitable organizations is unique and is not similar to donations to a group of victims. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Individualism–collectivism and organ donation intentions

This article investigates the impact of individualism–collectivism on a person's willingness to donate organs. In Study 1, an online survey showed that individualism–collectivism was significantly and positively associated with participants' willingness to register as organ donors while perceived benefit mediated this relationship. Study 2 demonstrated the causal effect of individualism–collectivism on organ donation intentions using a priming technique. Participants primed with collectivism were more likely to register as organ donors than those primed with individualism. Our findings provide unique insights into whether cultural values (i.e., individualism–collectivism) can predict people's organ donation intentions.     

Assessment of Disgust Sensitivity in Children With an Age-Downward Version of the Disgust Emotion Scale

The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Disgust Emotion Scale for Children (DES-C). Principal components analysis of the DES-C data revealed five factors reflecting disgust toward (a) rotting foods, (b) injection and blood, (c) odors, (d) mutilation and death, and (e) animals, which were largely in keeping with the intended subscales. The DES-C showed good reliability, excellent convergent validity (as established by correlations with an alternative self-report index of disgust), fairly good predictive validity (as assessed by correlations with measures of fear/anxiety and a behavioral index of disgust), and acceptable parent–child agreement (in particular with the mothers). Importantly, the DES-C proved to perform better on some psychometric indicators than an age-downward version of the Disgust Scale. These findings indicate that the DES-C should be regarded as the preferred scale for measuring disgust sensitivity and its role in the etiology and maintenance of anxiety problems in children.     

Signing an Organ Donation Letter: The Prediction of Behavior From Behavioral Intentions1

The signing of an organ donation letter was examined among 149 unmarried university students. The letter was developed for the purpose of conveying one's wishes regarding posthumous donation to one's next of kin. Predictors of letter signing were examined that explain hypothesized inconsistencies between the behavioral intention to sign and actual letter-signing behavior. Respondents were offered the opportunity to sign and send the donation letter to their parents. As predicted, reported willingness to sign the letter was only moderately related to actual behavior. Decision confidence, organ donation knowledge, and perceived decision importance positively influenced signing, independent of willingness. Unfavorability toward defending one's donation decision to one's parents inhibited signing, even among those expressing a high initial willingness to sign.     

Transplantation: Biomedical and Ethical Concerns Raised by the Cloning and Stem-Cell Debate

Transplantation is becoming an increasingly more common approach to treatment of diseases of organ failure, making organ donation an important means of saving lives. Most world religions find organ donation for the purpose of transplantation to be acceptable, and some even encourage members to donate their organs as a gift of love to others. Recent developments, including artificial organs, transplants from nonhuman species, use of stem cells, and cloning, are impacting the field of transplantation. These new approaches should be discussed with bioethical considerations in mind, particularly the notion of human beings as a unity of body and spirit.     

Disgust domains in the prediction of contamination fear

Previous research has shown a relationship between the emotion of disgust and the fear of contamination. Heightened sensitivity to disgust and increased concerns over contamination has been observed in various disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and specific phobias. However, there is a paucity of research identifying the specific domains of disgust that contribute to contamination fear. The present study soughts to determine which domains of disgust elicitors reliably predict scores on a measure of OCD contamination obsessions and washing compulsions. We further conducted exploratory analyses that examined differences in disgust sensitivity among individuals classified as high and low in contamination fear. Three hundred and twenty-three undergraduate participants completed two measures of disgust sensitivity (Disgust Scale; Disgust Emotion Scale) and a measure of contamination fear (Padua inventory, contamination obsessions and washing compulsions subscale). Stepwise multiple regression analyses indicated that contamination fear was best predicted by seven different disgust domains, thereby suggesting that contamination fear is accounted for by generalized, rather than domain-specific, disgust elicitors. The categories of disgust that predicted contamination fear appeared to have an underlying commonality of threat of contagion. The relationship between fear of contamination and disgust sensitivity was more pronounced for animal reminder disgust elicitors as opposed to core disgust elicitors. Results also showed that individuals classified as high in contamination fear scored significantly higher than the low contamination fear group on all disgust domains. Clinical and research implications regarding the interrelationships between fear, disgust, and the fear of contamination are discussed.     

Disgust sensitivity selectively predicts attitudes toward groups that threaten (or uphold) traditional sexual morality

Previous research has linked disgust sensitivity to negative attitudes toward gays and lesbians. We extend this existing research by examining the extent to which disgust sensitivity predicts attitudes more generally toward groups that threaten or uphold traditional sexual morality. In a sample of American adults (N = 236), disgust sensitivity (and particularly contamination disgust) predicted negative attitudes toward groups that threaten traditional sexual morality (e.g., pro-choice activists), and positive attitudes toward groups that uphold traditional sexual morality (e.g., Evangelical Christians). Further, disgust sensitivity was a weaker predictor of attitudes toward left-aligned and right-aligned groups whose objectives are unrelated to traditional sexual morality (e.g., gun-control/gun-rights activists). Together, these findings are consistent with a sexual conservatism account for understanding the relationship between disgust sensitivity and intergroup attitudes.     

ATTITUDES TOWARD WOMEN's BODY HAIR: RELATIONSHIP WITH DISGUST SENSITIVITY

We aimed to further investigate the "hairlessness" norm that is the common practice of body hair removal among women. A sample of 198 undergraduate students (91 men, 107 women) completed questionnaires asking about attitudes toward women's body hair and the reasons women remove this hair, as well as a measure of disgust sensitivity. It was found that the vast majority (98%) of female participants regularly remove their leg and/or underarm hair, most frequently by shaving, and attribute this to femininity and attractiveness reasons. However, the attributions that they and men made for other women were much more socially normative in nature. For the sample as a whole, negative attitudes toward body hair were related to disgust sensitivity. It was concluded that body hair on women, but not on men, has become an elicitor of disgust and its removal correspondingly normative.