Elsevier

Transplantation Proceedings

Volume 37, Issue 10, December 2005, Pages 4153-4158
Transplantation Proceedings

Organ donation
Knowledge and Attitudes About Deceased Donor Organ Donation in Filipinos: A Qualitative Assessment

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.transproceed.2005.10.016Get rights and content

Abstract

Fewer ethnic minorities, especially Asian-Americans, become organ donors. There are cultural, religious, and personal barriers to becoming a designated organ donor. Factors that promote or inhibit organ donation in Asians, especially Filipinos, are not well understood. We conducted a series of focus groups to identify barriers and facilitators to organ donation (deceased donor) among Filipinos. Six focus groups were conducted with church members, adolescents, nurses, physicians, organ recipients, and organ donor families. The mean age of adult participants (n = 57) was 52.3 ± 15 years, 83% were Catholic, and 72% were female. A qualitative theme analysis methodology identified dominant themes related to organ donation in the participants. The major themes were: awareness of organ donation (38%), family beliefs (25%), religion/spirituality (10%), attitude/emotions (10%), personal experience with organ donation (8%), health profession (6%), and cultural issues (3%). Seventy-five percent of the comments about awareness reflected a positive awareness of cultural issues regarding organ donation, and the rest reflected a lack of awareness or misconceptions. Almost every theme was mentioned in all six focus groups. Understanding a specific ethnic group’s knowledge, attitudes, and cultural beliefs regarding organ donation is important in the development of educational campaigns to encourage organ donation in ethnic minority populations.

Section snippets

Recruitment and Participants

The Bayanihan Project’s community-based activities are guided by a Community Advisory Board of over 20 leaders from the Filipino community including: state congressional representatives, leaders in Filipino community organizations, city council members, business leaders, health professionals, and religious leaders. With advice from this group and after reviewing previously published results, key subgroups from the community were selected for inclusion in focus groups. These individuals were

Sample

A total of 57 Filipinos participated in the six focus groups. The mean age of adult participants was 52.3 ± 15 years; the mean age of the adolescents was 15.7 ± .78 years. Most participants were Catholic (83%), and except for the physician group, which was 42% female, there were more women (72%) than men. Over 70% of the adult participants had children. One transplant surgeon participated in the physician focus group; however, the remaining physicians were primary care physicians, retired, or

Discussion

Filipinos are overrepresented on transplant waiting lists, but few become organ donors following their death. This study explored the issues that could be linked to the knowledge, attitudes, and cultural beliefs that Filipinos have toward organ donation. Qualitative methods were used with six targeted Filipino groups, who attended focus groups held at locations in the community.

The participants in these focus groups were generally knowledgeable about why organ donation is important to an

References (13)

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This research was funded by NIH grant 1R01 DK62659.

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