Teenagers in Rural Areas Faced With Organ Donation and Transplantation

In rural areas it is common to find unfavorable attitudes toward organ donation, and therefore it is important to find out the attitude and profile of new generations for improving predisposition to organ donation in these areas. Our objective was to analyze the attitude toward organ donation and the related variables of teenagers in a rural area.

Students in the final year of compulsory education (mostly 15-16 years of age) were selected from secondary schools in a rural area in southeastern Spain (n = 319; population density <300 inhabitants/km²). The instrument of measurement used was a validated psychosocial questionnaire. Completion was anonymous and self-administered. Descriptive statistical analysis, Student t test, χ² test, and multivariate analysis were employed.

There was a completion rate of 96% (n = 306). Overall, 65% (n = 200) were in favor of donating their organs, 30% (n = 90) were undecided, and 5% (n = 16) were against. Attitude toward the donation of one's own organs was related with sex (P = .015), previous experience of organ donation or transplantation (P = .046), comment on the topic of organ donation within the family (P = .003; odds ratio 2.155), knowing one's mother's opinion about the matter (P = .021), knowing the correct concept of brain death (P = .012; odds ratio 2.076), and religion (P = .014).

A favorable attitude of teenagers in rural areas toward organ donation is slightly higher than in the adult population and is determined by many psychosocial variables, above all family discussion about organ donation and transplantation and correct knowledge of the brain death concept.