Attitudes of Turkish university employees and their relatives towards whole body and organ donation

• Published in: Annals of anatomy 2020-05, Vol.229, p.151426-151426, Article 151426
• Main Authors: Oktem, Hale, Pelin, Can, Kurkcuoglu, Ayla, Yildirim, Rıfat Vedat, Yazici Guvercin, Ayşe Canan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Anatomy education; Attitude of Health Personnel; Body donation; Body donors; Educational Status; Employment; Female; Humans; Male; Marital Status; Middle Aged; Organ donation; Religion; Sex Factors; Spirituality; Surveys and Questionnaires; Tissue and Organ Procurement - ethics; Tissue and Organ Procurement - statistics & numerical data; Turkey; Universities - ethics; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0940-9602; 1618-0402
• DOI: 10.1016/j.aanat.2019.151426

Dissection of human anatomic specimens still keeps its importance in medical curriculum. Experiences of medical students in the anatomy laboratory and the time they spent there makes them feel as doctors at the beginning of their education and helps them to get used to the notion of death. Unfortunately, the number of human body donors available for medical research and education as well as organ transplantation is limited. Obtaining human anatomic specimens continues being a great problem especially in middle-east countries. Religious factors, socioeconomic status, education, marital status or age are probably the main factors those effect body donations. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the attitudes of Turkish university employees and their relatives towards whole body donation and organ donation. A total of 780 questionnaires taken from the participants were evaluated. All the participants were academic and administrative staff from four different universities based in Ankara, Eskişehir, İstanbul and Adana and their relatives. Participants were between the ages of 18–85. All the subjects were provided a questionnaire composed of 38 questions. 26.2% of the individuals declared that they could donate their body for medical education while 73.8% of them did not. In contrast, 69.1% of the participants were willing for being organ donors. Of the ones who had accepted to donate their organs, 64.5% refused to donate their bodies. The results of this study indicate that not only whole body donation, but also organ donation continue being a problem in Turkey.