Influence of knowledge and religiousness on attitudes toward organ donation

There remains a great need for organ donation. Each year thousands of individuals wait for organs to be donated for transplantation. In this study, the Organ Donation Attitude Survey (ODAS) was developed. One hundred ninety undergraduate students (114 women with a mean age of 20.0 and 76 men with a mean age of 20.5 years) enrolled in general education classes at a small midwestern university participated. The present study determined that ODAS is a reliable and valid instrument to assess attitudes regarding organ donation. The data were analyzed by stepwise regression to determine which variables were related to attitudes regarding organ donation. The results indicated the impact of four variables: education regarding organ donation, knowledge of someone who had donated an organ after death, awareness of anyone who received a donated organ, and religious beliefs. These significant variables in the regression analysis explained 24.95% of the ODAS total score variability. The most important results of the present study indicated that the ODAS was psychometrically valid and it could be used to evaluate attitudes regarding organ donation.