Why Donate Your Body to Science?: Analysis of Mississippi’s Donor Rationale

Abstract

Whole body donation is fundamental to medical education and research because human dissection provides an educational tool for the training of healthcare professionals. Current research is limited regarding the characteristics and the rationale of donors who bequeath their bodies to whole body donation programs. Most studies have been conducted outside of the United States and have focused on demographics. The few studies that have focused on donor rationale found that the majority of donors donate for altruistic reasons. In continuation with a previous study on retrospective donor pool demographics in Mississippi, this study looked to further investigate the reasons for body donation. Mississippi has a high number of preregistered donors and investigation as to why this population donates could aid in recruitment of donors in other states. This study aimed to investigate the demographics and motives of prospective donors who have completed whole body preregistration forms within the state of Mississippi from January 2017 to August 2019. A survey was sent to registered donors via email or was included in an updated preregistration form for perspective donors. Demographic information and responses to the rationale survey were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Further analysis will aim to compare these demographics with retrospective data on previous donor populations to determine potential changes. The analysis of the motives and demographics of the donors may contribute to improving the efficiency of donor recruitment in order to continue training healthcare practitioners.