Altruism in death: Attitudes to body and organ donation in Australian students

Abstract

Health education, research, and training rely on the altruistic act of body donation for the supply of cadavers. Organ transplantation and research rely on donated organs. Supply of both is limited, with further restrictions in Australia due to requirements for a next-of-kin agreement to donation, irrespective of the deceased's pre-death consent. Research suggests health workers are less likely to support the donation of their own bodies and/or organs, despite recognizing the public good of donation, and that exposure to gross anatomy teaching may negatively affect support for donation. Attitudes to body and organ donation were examined in Australian students studying anatomy. Support for self-body donation (26.5%) was much lower than support for self-organ donation (82.5%). Ten percent of participants would not support the election of a family member or member of the public to donate their body, and just over 4% would not support the election of a family member to donate their organs, with one-to-two percent not supporting this election by a member of the public. Exposure to gross anatomy teaching was associated with an increased likelihood of consideration of issues about body and organ donation, whether for self, family, or the public, and registration as an organ donor. Exposure decreased participants' willingness to donate their own body, with those who practiced a religion least likely to support body donation. Gross anatomy courses provide an opportunity to inform future healthcare workers about altruistic donation, albeit with a recognition that religious or cultural beliefs may affect willingness to donate.

Keywords: anatomical dissection; attitudes; body donation; cadaver; gross anatomy education; organ donation; postgraduate education; undergraduate education.

FIGURE 1

Reasons for willingness to donate body selected by participants from the whole cohort, and by those in each of the five cohort groups, who answered the question. Responses are expressed as a percentage (%) of the total number N = 1388 (whole cohort) or n (cohort sub‐groups). Cross‐tab chi‐square analysis shows significant differences at ^a p < 0.0001 in reasons selected when comparing across the cohort sub‐groups

FIGURE 2

Reasons for unwillingness to donate body selected by participants from the whole cohort, and by those in each of the five cohort groups, who answered the question. Responses are expressed as a percentage (%) of the total number N = 1076 (whole cohort) or n (cohort sub‐groups). Cross‐tab chi‐square analysis shows significant differences at ^a p < 0.0001 and ^b p < 0.001 in reasons selected when comparing across the cohort sub‐groups

FIGURE 3

Reasons for willingness to support organ donation selected by participants from the whole cohort, and by those in each of the five cohort groups, who answered the question. Responses are expressed as a percentage (%) of the total number N = 1776 (whole cohort) or n (cohort sub‐groups). Cross‐tab chi‐square analysis shows significant differences at ^a p < 0.0001 in reasons selected when comparing across the cohort sub‐groups

FIGURE 4

Reasons for unwillingness to support organ donation selected by participants from the whole cohort, and by those in each of the five cohort groups, who answered the question. Responses are expressed as a percentage (%) of the total number N = 439 (whole cohort) or n (cohort sub‐groups). Cross‐tab chi‐square analyses showed no significant differences when comparing reasons selected across the cohort sub‐groups