Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior of Nigerian Students Toward Organ Donation

The Nigerian transplantation program is evolving but is currently over-reliant on living donors. If deceased donation is to be viable in Nigeria, it is important to ascertain the views of the public. The objective of the study was to explore the knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of Nigerian international students toward organ donation.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among Nigerian international students of the University of Bedfordshire through the use of a modified self-administered questionnaire. The participants were recruited by means of purposive sampling.

Of the 110 questionnaires distributed, 103 were returned fully completed (response rate = 93.6%). A significant majority (93.2%) of the participants are aware of organ donation, and 76.7% have a good knowledge on the subject. Furthermore, more than half (52.8%) of the participants have a positive attitude toward organ donation, and less than half (42.8%) have favorable behavior toward it. Higher knowledge does not correlate to either positive attitude or behavior, but a positive attitude is correlated with favorable behavior toward donation.

The attitudes and behavior of the respondents toward organ donation is not commensurate with the level of knowledge they possess. This highlights the urgent need for well-structured educational programs on deceased organ donation.