Assessment of knowledge about biobanking among healthcare students and their willingness to donate biospecimens

doi:10.1186/s12910-017-0195-8

. 2017 May 2;18(1):32.

doi: 10.1186/s12910-017-0195-8.

Assessment of knowledge about biobanking among healthcare students and their willingness to donate biospecimens

Leena Merdad¹, Lama Aldakhil², Rawan Gadi¹, Mourad Assidi^{3

4}, Salina Y Saddick⁵, Adel Abuzenadah^{3

4}, Jim Vaught^{6

7}, Abdelbaset Buhmeida⁸, Mohammed H Al-Qahtani³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80209, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia.
² College of Public Health and Health Informatics, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, P.O. Box 22490, Riyadh, 11426, Saudi Arabia.
³ Center of Excellence in Genomic Medicine Research, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80216, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Center of Innovation in Personalized Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80216, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 1B3, Canada.
⁷ Biopreservation and Biobanking, Kensington, MD, 20895, USA.
⁸ Center of Excellence in Genomic Medicine Research, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80216, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia. abuhme@utu.fi.

PMID: 28464877
PMCID: PMC5414189
DOI: 10.1186/s12910-017-0195-8

Assessment of knowledge about biobanking among healthcare students and their willingness to donate biospecimens

Leena Merdad et al. BMC Med Ethics. 2017.

. 2017 May 2;18(1):32.

doi: 10.1186/s12910-017-0195-8.

Authors

Leena Merdad¹, Lama Aldakhil², Rawan Gadi¹, Mourad Assidi^{3

4}, Salina Y Saddick⁵, Adel Abuzenadah^{3

4}, Jim Vaught^{6

7}, Abdelbaset Buhmeida⁸, Mohammed H Al-Qahtani³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80209, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia.
² College of Public Health and Health Informatics, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, P.O. Box 22490, Riyadh, 11426, Saudi Arabia.
³ Center of Excellence in Genomic Medicine Research, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80216, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Center of Innovation in Personalized Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80216, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 1B3, Canada.
⁷ Biopreservation and Biobanking, Kensington, MD, 20895, USA.
⁸ Center of Excellence in Genomic Medicine Research, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80216, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia. abuhme@utu.fi.

PMID: 28464877
PMCID: PMC5414189
DOI: 10.1186/s12910-017-0195-8

Abstract

Background: Biobanks and biospecimen collections are becoming a primary means of delivering personalized diagnostics and tailoring individualized therapeutics. This shift towards precision medicine (PM) requires interactions among a variety of stakeholders, including the public, patients, healthcare providers, government, and donors. Very few studies have investigated the role of healthcare students in biobanking and biospecimen donations. The main aims of this study were (1) to evaluate the knowledge of senior healthcare students about biobanks and (2) to assess the students' willingness to donate biospecimens and the factors influencing their attitudes.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among senior healthcare students at King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Saudi Arabia. The data were obtained using a self-administered questionnaire in English. In addition to the respondents' biographical data section, the questionnaire assessed the respondents' general knowledge about biobanking, the factors influencing their willingness to donate biospecimens to biobanks and their general attitudes towards biomedical research.

Results: A total of 597 senior healthcare students were included in the study. The general knowledge score was 3.2 (±1.6) out of 7. Only approximately 44% and 27% of students were aware of the terms "Human Genome Project" (HGP) and "biobank," respectively. The majority of the students (89%) were willing to donate biospecimens to biobanks. Multiple factors were significantly associated with their willingness to donate, including their perceived general health (p < 0.001), past experience with both tissue testing (p < 0.04) and tissue donation (p < 0.001), biobanking knowledge score (p < 0.001) and biomedical research attitude score (p < 0.001). The main reasons for students' willingness to donate were advancement of medical research and societal benefits, whereas misuse of biospecimens and confidentiality breaches were the main reasons for a reluctance to donate.

Conclusion: Despite their strong willingness to donate biospecimens, students exhibited a notable lack of knowledge about biobanking and the HGP. To expedite the transition towards PM, it is highly recommended to enhance healthcare curricula by including more educational and awareness programmes to familiarize students with OMICs technologies in addition to the scope of research and clinical applications.

Keywords: Biobank; Biospecimens; Knowledge; Medical students; Precision medicine; Survey; Willingness to donate.

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Willingness to donate specific tissue

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References

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[1] Gaskell G, Gottweis H, Starkbaum J, Gerber MM, Broerse J, Gottweis U, Hobbs A, Helen I, Paschou M, Snell K, et al. Publics and biobanks: pan-European diversity and the challenge of responsible innovation. Eur J Hum Genet. 2013;21(1):14–20. doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2012.104. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[2] Gaskell G, Gottweis H, Starkbaum J, Gerber MM, Broerse J, Gottweis U, Hobbs A, Helen I, Paschou M, Snell K, et al. Publics and biobanks: pan-European diversity and the challenge of responsible innovation. Eur J Hum Genet. 2013;21(1):14–20. doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2012.104. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[3] Wolf SM. Return of results in genomic biobank research: ethics matters. Genet Med. 2013;15(2):157–159. doi: 10.1038/gim.2012.162. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[4] Wolf SM. Return of results in genomic biobank research: ethics matters. Genet Med. 2013;15(2):157–159. doi: 10.1038/gim.2012.162. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[5] Harris JR, Burton P, Knoppers BM, Lindpaintner K, Bledsoe M, Brookes AJ, Budin-Ljosne I, Chisholm R, Cox D, Deschenes M, et al. Toward a roadmap in global biobanking for health. Eur J Hum Genet. 2012;20(11):1105–1111. doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2012.96. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[6] Harris JR, Burton P, Knoppers BM, Lindpaintner K, Bledsoe M, Brookes AJ, Budin-Ljosne I, Chisholm R, Cox D, Deschenes M, et al. Toward a roadmap in global biobanking for health. Eur J Hum Genet. 2012;20(11):1105–1111. doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2012.96. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[7] Christodoulou J. The human genome project: opportunities, challenges and consequences for population screening. Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 2003;34(Suppl 3):234–238. - PubMed

[8] Christodoulou J. The human genome project: opportunities, challenges and consequences for population screening. Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 2003;34(Suppl 3):234–238. - PubMed

[9] Husedzinovic A, Ose D, Schickhardt C, Frohling S, Winkler EC. Stakeholders' perspectives on biobank-based genomic research: systematic review of the literature. Eur J Human Genet. 2015;23(12):1607–1614. doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2015.27. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[10] Husedzinovic A, Ose D, Schickhardt C, Frohling S, Winkler EC. Stakeholders' perspectives on biobank-based genomic research: systematic review of the literature. Eur J Human Genet. 2015;23(12):1607–1614. doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2015.27. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

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Assessment of knowledge about biobanking among healthcare students and their willingness to donate biospecimens

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Assessment of knowledge about biobanking among healthcare students and their willingness to donate biospecimens

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