Health Literacy and Official Websites about Deceased Organ Donation

Abstract

Making informed decisions such as organ donation requires access to accurate, readily available and reliable information. One of the most easily accessible resources are the official national websites of countries around the topic of Deceased organ Donation (DOD). The content of the official organ donation websites in the UK (NHSBT), the Netherlands (ONT) and Spain (NTS) were analysed. This is a step towards finding the parameters of a health literacy agenda on organ donation and transplantation. Cross-comparative content analysis was employed and subsequently thematic analysis was used to locate themes and sub-themes in the sections of these websites and coverage of themes was assessed. The analysis was performed using Atlas.ti software in 2014-2016. The information provided in these websites were categorised in five themes consisting of Theme 1: Personal Values for Organ Donation, Theme 2: Facts on the Organ Donation Process, Theme 3: Registration Options, Theme 4: Communicating with Family Members and Theme 5: Promotional resources. Within themes 2 and 3, further sub themes were identified to explore the topic more fully. The information in the websites provides an overview of the main areas of organ donation in which the public is informed in different countries and highlights that changes need to be implemented in an individual, community and population level.