Donation Attitudes Research Articles

Are charity galas still relevant? An examination of generational differences in attitudes towards gala fundraising events

Prompted by the scandal in 2018 concerning sexist behaviour at the Presidents Club’s charity gala in London in the UK and by the emerging literature within the field of philanthropy that finds generational differences in donor motivation and behaviour, this study examines whether the charity gala continues to be a relevant method of fundraising. Taking a mixed-methods research approach, using surveys and interviews, the study captures the views and attitudes of 108 affluent donors and 53 fundraisers in the UK. Aside from a few minor differences, the study finds that donors across generations share similar attitudes towards galas, concluding that this fundraising method is still relevant, providing the charities have willing supporters with appropriate social networks. The findings, of interest to scholars and practitioners alike, address a gap in empirical evidence regarding donor attitudes towards a specific type of fundraising as well as contributing to the broader discussion as to why people engage with philanthropy.

Knowledge, attitude and practice of blood donation and the role of religious beliefs among health sciences undergraduate students

There is a consensus on the importance of education of the population for blood donation. Considering that health sciences undergraduate students will play an important role of opinion makers in their social/professional networks in the future, the present study aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitude and practice of the blood donation and religious beliefs among students of a public Brazilian university. All students enrolled in courses of Ribeirão Preto Medical School in 2019 were invited (N = 550). The questionnaire was composed by sociodemographic and behavioral variables, an instrument regarding blood donation attitude and practice, the Blood Donation Knowledge Questionnaire (BDKQ-Brazil) and the Duke University Religious Index (DUREL). Multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate sex- and age-adjusted odds ratios for the relations between sociodemographic/behavioral characteristics and blood donation practice. The association between the responses to the BDKQ-Brazil and blood donation practice was performed using Fisher's Exact Test. Three hundred and forty students were included (81.5% females). Blood donation has been a common practice for part of the students, who have almost entirely shown a positive attitude towards donation and a high rate of self-efficacy regarding their practice. However, less than expected knowledge was observed. Regarding religious beliefs, lower scores of non-organizational and intrinsic religiosity were detected among those male students who never donated blood. Our results suggest the need to develop educational activities for students aiming, in addition to their awareness of the practice of donation, the spread of information regarding blood donation in the future.

To donate or to waste it: Understanding posthumous organ donation attitude

The aim of this paper is to improve knowledge and foster a deeper understanding of various aspects of influencing posthumous organ donation. Extending the Theory of Reasoned Action this study integrates four external explanatory belief factors, altruism, perceived benefit, perceived risk and familial subjective norm to more fully explain organ donation intentions to sign a donor card. The data was gathered from a convenience sample of 423 via an online survey. The relationships between the constructs of the proposed conceptual model were tested using structural equation modelling and bias correct bootstrapping techniques. Several alternative models were compared to confirm the mediation effects. This study derives a number of practical implications for government policy-makers, social marketing practitioners and educationalists, which could be used to increase registration rate, thus bridging the gap between organ supply and demand.

Knowledge and attitude on donation of breast milk in hospitalized mothers

ObjectiveTo understand the knowledge and attitude of breast milk donation among hospitalized mothers, and provide data to support the establishment and development of breast milk bank in China. MethodsBy convenient sampling method, 200 hospitalized mothers were interviewed by ‘The Questionnaire on Knowledge and Attitude toward Breast Milk Donation in Hospitalized Mothers’ in Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital from September 2015 to November 2018. ResultsThe overall correct answer rate about the knowledge on breast milk donation was not high (29.23%). The average score of breast milk donation attitude was relatively low, with a score of 32.97 ± 4.30. ConclusionThe average correct answer rate for breast milk donation knowledge was relatively low, and the attitude on breast milk donation was not positive. The scope and intensity of breast milk donation are suggested to be expanded to promote the construction of breast milk banks.

A Mosque-Based Qualitative Study on American Muslim Women's Organ Donation Beliefs.

Detailed studies on the associations between religious beliefs and organ donation attitudes among religious minorities remain wanting. Although Muslims appear to have low rates of support for donation, how these behaviors relate to religious frameworks requires further investigation. We sought to explore the relationship between religious beliefs (Islam) and organ donation attitudes through focus groups with 43 Muslim women from 5 Chicago-area mosques. Purposive selection of mosques generated near-equal representation of Arabs, South Asians, and African Americans, as well as diversity in education and income. Using the theory of planned behavior as our conceptual framework, we expanded the traditional normative domain to include religiously informed beliefs. We found that the relationship between religious beliefs and Muslim attitudes toward organ donation is more complex than commonly perceived. Regarding the Islamic ethicolegal permissibility of organ donation, participants expressed a range of normative beliefs. Furthermore, participants voiced concerns beyond religious permissibility, including anxieties over modesty violations during the donation process, as well as concerns about purported black market organ trade and medical risks to donors. Given that participants raised religious, societal, and biomedical concerns regarding organ donation, our findings suggest that effective educational programs should involve nuanced curricula that teach to the plurality of Islamic ethicolegal opinions and discuss transplantation processes within the United States.

Ireland's Foreign Aid in 2019

This paper reviews some aspects of Ireland's official development assistance (ODA) programme in 2019. It begins with an overview of the global context for development and aid last year, which is described as one of growing uncertainty that turned into global collapse. The topics covered in this year's review include: the impacts to date of the Covid-19 pandemic on global growth, global trade and global investment, as well as the increase in poverty and debt in developing countries; an overview of total ODA flows from DAC donors in 2019; a survey of attitudes of European donors, including Ireland, to the provision of ODA in 2019; the DAC peer review of Irish aid published early in 2020; an overview of some global development indices; and a description of some new approaches being adopted by the European Union in its aid policies and programmes. Preliminary data for total Irish ODA in 2019 was published in the DAC's preliminary ODA communication in April 2020. Total Irish ODA for last year on a grant-equivalent basis was US$935 million (roughly €832 million). This equals 0.31% of GNI; the same as in 2018. Irish Aid was unable to meet the DAC's annual deadline of mid-July for reporting to it, and so was also unable to provide a detailed breakdown of these data for this review. Indeed, in recognition of delays in the production of 2019 data by many DAC donors, because of difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic this year, the DAC has acknowledged that it anticipates data returns will be very late. As a result of data not being available, it is not possible to present the usual comparison tables in the review this year.

What are Chinese New Zealanders' organ donation attitudes

Introduction: Research indicates Chinese people have the lowest organ donation rates in the world. Meanwhile Chinese people have the highest demand for liver transplants in the world because of the prevalence of liver disease in Chinese. It is urgent to know Chinese New Zealanders’ organ donation attitudes. Objectives/Aims: Identify Chinese New Zealanders’ attitudes toward organ donation and to explore the barriers and facilitators of organ donation in Chinese New Zealanders. Methods: A cross sectional survey was undertaken. Chinese New Zealanders (=187) completed of a web-based or paper-based questionnaire, which included the organ donation attitude scale, knowledge scale and the Chinese death anxiety scale. Results: Of the respondents, 171 (91.9%) supported organ donation, 139 (75.9%) would like to donate their organs after death, 90 (49.4%) had signed an organ donor card or the back of their driver’s licenses, but only 40 (21.4%) had discussed their organ donation wishes with their family. Designated donors and non-designated donors in the knowledge scores and the death anxiety scores are significantly different. Cultural influence, knowing someone who donated an organ while living, knowledge, and receiving organ donation education were predictive of Chinese New Zealanders’ attitudes to organ donation. While death anxiety negatively influences Chinese New Zealanders’ organ donation attitudes; it is not a significant predictor of Chinese New Zealanders’ organ donation attitudes. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that many Chinese New Zealanders willing to donate organs. There is a huge discrepancy between the attitude displayed in surveys and the actual consent rate. Chinese culture is the strongest negative predictor of Chinese New Zealanders’ attitudes towards organ donation. They are also lack knowledge about organ donation such as donor criteria, donation process, and applicable laws. The major challenge is to improve the consent rate of Chinese New Zealander donors’ families

Increasing Organ Donor Registrations with Behavioral Interventions: A Large-Scale Field Experiment

Although prior research has advanced our understanding of the drivers of organ donation attitudes and intentions — e.g., knowledge and altruistic motivation — little is known about how to increase actual registrations. Some empirical evidence suggests that labor intensive educational programs and costly mass media campaigns might be effective for increasing registrations, however, these are neither scalable nor economical solutions. To address these limitations, we conducted a large-scale field experiment (N = 3,330) in the province of Ontario where we tested four low-cost, easy-to-scale behavioral interventions targeting knowledge and altruistic motives on actual in-person registrations. Two of our interventions, providing an information brochure, and prompting perspective taking with a reciprocal altruism persuasive message (If you needed a transplant would you have one? If so, please help save lives and register today) nearly doubled individuals’ likelihood of registering as an organ donor. This paper contributes to the limited empirical evidence for applied behavioral solutions that reduce the intention-action gap in the context of organ donation and has important implications for public policy and enhancing societal welfare.

Supporting National Transition in Myanmar with Development Assistance

Myanmar is undergoing significant political reforms and socio-political changes, which have been more rapid and broad than anticipated by most commentators. While ongoing reforms face significant obstacles and vested interests, and is far from assured, reform to date has already significantly altered the international relations of the state. From a development perspective, the growing international acceptability of the regime has begun to change donor attitudes, with development assistance rather than merely humanitarian aid now being discussed, and the conditionality attached to international assistance changing. This paper explores these changes in donor policies toward Myanmar, examining the prospects for development partnership with relevant government programs and agencies, and analysing the ways and sectors development assistance may be able to be used to strengthen the ongoing reform and national transition.

The Influence Mechanism of Users’ Willingness to Donate to Content Creators in Social Media

As an incentive mechanism, donation to content creators in social media has become popular in China. This mechanism is greatly conducive to encourage social media content creators to release high-quality content. However, there has been little academic research about this donation behavior of social media users. This study attempts to explore factors affecting users’ willingness to donate to content creators. The results indicate that the intensity of users’ habit of free use of Internet has a significant negative effect on user donation attitude, and users’ perception of welfare of donation has a significant positive effect. User donation attitude, collective norms, and perceived behavior control have significant positive effects on users’ willingness to donation.

Organ donation attitudes and general self-efficacy: exploratory views from a rural primary care setting.

Behavioral determinants can enable or hinder motivation towards registration and donorship and, subsequently, action or inertia towards organ donation. Nevertheless, there is limited information about the role of self-efficacy in relation to organ donation awareness and presumed consent among individuals and their families. The aim of this study was to explore knowledge, attitudes and general self-efficacy as behavioral determinants for organ donation among rural primary care attendants, in order to tailor awareness strategies for reversing inertia within an opt-out system. This was a prospective face-to-face survey during regularly scheduled appointments of 203 attendants at a rural primary care unit in northern Greece. Responses to a 12-item adapted 'Organ donation awareness' questionnaire measuring knowledge, attitudes and awareness were related to participants' General Self-Efficacy (GSE) Scale score. Hierarchical modelling of a multiple linear regression model was adopted with GSE score added. About one-third of respondents (34.0%) had discussed presumed consent with a partner, family member or friend. More than half (54.2%) were concerned that donated organs might be used without consent for other purposes, such as medical research. A total of 30% found organ donation unacceptable because of religious beliefs. Organ donation awareness was not influenced by respondents' specific characteristics, but was significantly related to the GSE score (standard β=0.155, p=0.033). Overall, organ donation perceptions among rural primary care recipients were determined by knowledge of the presumed consent procurement system, pre-conceptions, religious beliefs, altruism and GSE scores. The association of self-efficacy with raised awareness could potentially explain the gap between high intent to consent as a donor and subsequent lack of follow-up action. Further comparative research across behavioral determinants between rural/urban groups is needed in order to tailor awareness strategies suitable for an opt-out system.

Predicting blood donation intention: the importance of fear.

Blood donor recruitment remains an important worldwide challenge due to changes in population demographics and shifts in the demand for blood. Various cognitive models help predict donation intention, although the importance of affective deterrents has become increasingly evident. This study aimed to identify fears that predict donation intention, to explore their relative importance, and to determine if self-efficacy and attitude mediate this relationship, thus providing possible targets for intervention. A total of 347 individuals (269 nondonors and 78 donors) living in Québec responded to questionnaires assessing medical fears, psychosocial factors related to donation intention including the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) constructs, anticipated regret, and facilitating factors (i.e., time commitment and rewards). To examine the relative importance of these factors in the context of blood donation, the same questions were also asked about other medical activities that involve salient needle stimuli: flu vaccinations and dental examinations. Medical fears, especially blood-related fears, were significantly associated with donation intention. Bootstrapping tests confirmed that this relation was mediated by attitude and self-efficacy. Underlining the importance of medical fears in the blood donation context, these fears were not associated with attitudes and intentions for dental examinations or flu vaccinations. These results suggest that medical fears, especially blood-related fears, play a key role in predicting donation attitudes and intentions. Mediational pathways provide support for interventions to improve donation intentions by addressing specific fears while also improving a donor's belief in his or her ability to manage donation-related fears.

Impact of an Educational Intervention on Organ Donation Attitudes in College-Aged Students.

As the national demand for donated organs continues to rise, the rate of registered donors within the United States has remained stagnant, creating a shortage of viable, transferrable organs. Lack of registered donors can be partially attributed to misconceptions about organ donation, which has led to a population less willing to register as organ donors. The utilization of educational interventions can begin to address common misconceptions and change attitudes to favor organ donation. A quantitative pretest, posttest survey design was utilized in order to assess effectiveness of an educational intervention within the college-aged population. Results suggest that educational interventions are effective in creating positive attitudes about organ donation in college-aged students.

Factors Affecting Attitudes Toward Organ Donation in Health Care Professionals

BackgroundHealth care professionals can affect attitudes toward organ donation in society. The aim of this study was to examine health care professionals’ attitudes toward and the affecting factors of organ donation. Materials and methodsThis descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted between June and September in 2018. The sample consisted of 220 health professionals (nurses and physicians) who worked in the University Hospital and Family Health Centers located in Northern Turkey. The data were collected by using a sociodemographic form, an organ donation questionnaire, and the Organ Donation Attitudes Scale. Descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, and ratios), independent t test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and correlation analyses were used. ResultsThe mean age of the participants was 36.05 ± 7.52 years (range, 20–52 years). The mean score of the participants was 100.98 ± 13.18 for the positive dimension and 46.81 ± 17.61 for the negative dimension of the scale. It was found that nurses and health care professionals working in university hospitals and intensive care units have higher negative organ donation attitudes (P < .01). It was found that negative attitudes toward organ donation decreased as age increased (r = 0.146; P = .016). Overall, 17.7% of the participants had a donor card. ConclusionBecause the negative attitudes of nurses are higher in this study, the results reflect the need for intervention studies to determine the sensitivity to organ donation. It is striking that health care professionals who work in intensive care units have high negative attitudes toward organ donation. It can be recommended that interventional studies be performed with intensive care health care professionals.

Influence of knowledge, bodily integrity, religion and media on attitudes toward organ donation on the university campus

This study examines the influence of knowledge, bodily integrity, religion, and media on attitudes toward organ donation on University campus. A total of 724 participants completed surveys for this study a multivariate regression model was used to test the effects of these factors on participants' attitudes toward organ donation. The variable sets considered are the knowledge of organ donation, bodily integrity, religion, media, and attitudes toward organ donation. The results suggest that the effect of knowledge, bodily integrity, religion, and media influences the intention to donate organs. There is a positive relationship between the knowledge levels of participants on the University campus and belief levels and organ donation attitudes, and the fear of disintegration of their bodies is still an obstacle to organ donation. The paper indicates how it is possible to distinguish different components of organ donation behavior and to present the conclusions regarding the context on a University campus. The findings extend the exchanges with respect to the part of beliefs in the intentions of organ donation and arrangement of attitudes and have a significant incentive in making open approaches that further promote organ donation.

Attitudes of blood donors to their sample and data donation for biobanking

Modern biomedical and genetic studies require large study cohorts; blood donors have been suggested to represent an appropriate group for recruiting healthy cohorts. The Blood Service Biobank (BSB) in Finland was recently established to recruit blood donors willing to give broad biobank consent. The aim of the present study is to understand how the blood bank context influences views on donating samples and health data. We organised 61 interviews and 10 group discussions with current and potential blood donors. Using qualitative content analysis, we identified three discussion frameworks that summarise the results. We found that frequent blood donors associated the voluntary act of donation with caring for patients. The blood donation experience was considered to accommodate biobank participation, but also allowed critical observations on the integration of research data collection into blood donation. Research participants identified an important difference between the blood bank and biobank contexts. In the biobank context, the focus shifts from donating blood to patients into donating personal and genetic data for research use. Blood donors’ anxiety over data use was balanced with their experience of the trustworthiness of the Blood Service. These experiences indicated that the new biobanking activity could be trusted to a familiar organisation. To build donors’ trust, biobanks should invest in their institutional reputation, donor experience and dialogue with donors. These findings can be applied to other institutions that are considering setting up biobanks with broad consent for personal data use.

Organ donation in India—A social marketing perspective

Organ donation is a social issue, and marketers face challenges promoting it. If factors aiding and inhibiting it are identified, it becomes easier to enhance intention of donating organs. The objective of this research is to establish the role of perceived awareness, family support, perceived individual value, and religiosity on organ donation intention (ODI). A sample of 247 respondents answered a structured questionnaire. Proposed model is mediated by organ donation attitude (ODA) and moderated by perceived risk. Findings from the study show that all the predictors are positively related with ODI mediated through ODA and perceived risk moderates the influence of ODA on ODI.

Estimating the risk of blood donation fainting for self versus others: the moderating effect of fear.

People overestimate the likelihood that blood donors will experience faint and prefaint reactions, particularly if they are themselves fearful of having blood drawn. This study investigated the influence of making a risk assessment for oneself versus others, and examined whether providing information about the low base rates of reactions affected donation attitude, anxiety, and intention. An anonymous online survey was completed by 3702 individuals (53.9% female; mean age, 36.9 years; standard deviation, 12.1 years; range, 18-84) that included questions about fear of having blood drawn and estimation of the risk of donation-related faint and prefaint symptoms for themselves and others. A random one-half of the respondents received accurate information about the proportion of whole blood donors who experience such reactions before all participants completed questions concerning their donation attitude, anxiety, and intention. Estimates of both faint and prefaint reactions revealed a pattern of lower perceived risk for self versus others among individuals with low fear, and higher perceived risk for self versus others among those with high fear. Provision of accurate information about risk of reactions was associated with more positive donation attitudes (F[1, 3692] = 8.182, p = 0.004) and intentions (F[1, 3692] = 10.137, p = 0.001) but did not significantly affect anxiety. Donation-related fear is associated with inflated expectancies of adverse events, especially regarding oneself. Such fear may be particularly important to address, as it has both a direct and indirect negative effect on donor retention.

Attitudes of anonymous and identity-release oocyte donors towards future contact with donor offspring.

What are the attitudes and expectations of past oocyte donors concerning contact with their donor offspring and contact between donor offspring and their own children? The large majority (95%) of open-identity oocyte donors, as well as voluntarily registered donors (registered before the Finnish 2007 ART law), expressed positive or neutral feelings towards contact with their donor offspring and mainly positive expectations towards contact between donor offspring and their own children. Although there is a growing support for openness and identity-release programmes in gamete donation, there is not much knowledge on how donors feel about potential contact with their offspring. Most previous studies have investigated donor expectations with a relatively short follow-up time, using small samples or participants in voluntary donor linkage services. A retrospective cross-sectional survey of all women who had donated oocytes between 1990 and 2012 at three fertility clinics in Finland was carried out in 2013. A self-administered questionnaire was sent out to a total of 569 former oocyte donors. In total, 428 former oocyte donors answered a questionnaire assessing experiences and attitudes related to donation (response rate 75.2%). In this study, 358 donors who were unknown to the recipient were included. The mean follow-up time after the donation was 11.2 years. Before 2008, donors were non-identifiable but could voluntarily consent to release their identifying information to their donor offspring. After 2008, persons born as a result of gamete donation can, from the age of 18, receive information identifying the donor. Altogether 290 respondents had participated in a donation programme in 1990-2007 (before the Finnish ART-law), and 68 participated after the enactment of the ART-law, enabling us to compare attitudes by type of legislation during donation. Most voluntarily registered and open-identity donors welcomed or were neutral to potential contact with their donor offspring but were slightly more cautious towards contact between their own children and a donor-conceived child. Open-end comments revealed some ambiguity and uncertainty as to what to expect from such contact and feelings varied from neutral curiosity and interest to desire to meet the donor-conceived child. It is not possible to assess whether the opinions of the study participants is representative of all donors in 1990-2012, as 25% of all contacted former donors did not respond to the survey. This study is one of only a few studies among oocyte donors to evaluate long-term psychosocial consequences of the donation and expectations towards contact with donor offspring, using a large sample. Results from this study show that persisting concerns about adverse outcomes of identity release policies are largely unwarranted, but there is a need to develop counselling practices and material for identity-release donors about how to prepare for and adjust to potential contact with donor offspring. This study was supported by grants from the Medical Society Life and Health, and from the Otto A. Malm Foundation. The authors have no competing interests to report. N/A.

Nursing students' knowledge and attitudes of blood donation: A multicentre study.

To investigate factors involved in the blood donation (BD) in a population of Italian nursing students (NSs). Young people are still numerically limited among potential blood donors. Recent research on this topic has underlined the need to promote recruitment programmes and focused advertising campaigns to specific targeted population. Cross-sectional study. The STROBE checklist was used to grant adequate and complete reporting of research. The study was carried out in five Italian Universities, and a structured, 22-item questionnaire was distributed to 532 NSs (mean age=24.64, SD=7.41, min=19; max=55; population, female=80.8% of total) to explore propensity, obstacles, knowledge of BD and to assess associations between variables. Descriptive (frequency, mean and SD) and inferential (χ2 ) statistics were conducted. The overall level of knowledge among NSs donors is high, when compared with non-donors (p<0.05); the propensity for donation is acceptable (34.8% of the total are donors; mean=3.17 donation). The obstacles perceived by participants are "practical" (20% and 22.8% think they do not have enough time to donate or are unsuitable because of lifestyle reasons; respectively). A relevant aspect regards the NSs' perceived role as future healthcare professionals to be responsible to educate and influence potential donors (81.5%). Specifically tailored BD campaigning should be implemented to sensitise University students. NSs could become effective motivators among students of different Universities or faculties. Thanks to their role and capability to put themselves in the peer group. NSs could contribute to the promotion of this selfless practice and to the development of a mature, responsible civic attitude. Nursing educators should play a pivotal role in developing teaching methods to promote BD among NSs.