Attitudes and behaviours of students from the faculty of theology regarding organ donation: a study from Turkey

The aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge and attitude of students from the Faculty of Theology of Erciyes University regarding organ donation. This study comprising all students (n = 264) showed that 51.6% of subjects to the kidney is an organ that may be donated; other organs were less known. 16.5% of the students thought that organ donation is not in accord with Islamic beliefs; 22.0% thought that it is permitted in Islam for Muslims to donate to non-Muslims, and 23.6% were willing to accept organs from non-Muslims. 23.6% of the students were willing to donate their organs, whereas 57.3% were undecided. None of the students had an organ donation card. Among students who did not consider donation or were undecided, 16.5% stated that it was "religiously inappropriate" and 13.3% stated that they did not "approve the loss of body integrity." Students declared that they had little knowledge regarding organ/tissue donation: 67.9% about the religious aspect, 78.9% about the legal aspect, and 80.5% about the scientific aspect. Only 24.6% of the group noted school education as their source of information, with 51.2% stating that they had been questioned about organ donation by society. With this study, we concluded that the student's knowledge regarding organ donation was not sufficient.