The Effect of a Merit Point Incentive System on the Willingness to Donate Organs

Area of Science:

• Medical Ethics
• Public Health Policy
• Transplantation Medicine

Background:

• Despite widespread support for organ donation in the US, registration rates remain low.
• A need exists for effective, nonmonetary incentives to encourage organ donation.
• Young adults' perspectives on organ donation incentives require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess young adults' willingness to donate organs when merit points are offered.
• To evaluate the impact of merit points on willingness for both living and deceased donation.
• To determine if merit points for self or family members influence donation decisions.

Main Methods:

• A 10-question Qualtrics survey was administered to 572 undergraduate students.
• The survey explored attitudes towards organ donation factors, including merit points.
• Data were collected from March to September 2022 and analyzed using SAS software.

Main Results:

• Only 6.5% of students were unwilling to donate after death.
• Living donation willingness to family (95.8%) was higher than to strangers (71.2%).
• Merit points for family decreased unwillingness to donate after death (6.5% to 3.8%) and living donation to strangers (28.8% to 16.4%).

Conclusions:

• Merit points for first-degree family members enhance willingness for deceased organ donation.
• Self-awarded merit points did not decrease unwillingness for deceased donation.
• Merit points appear to reduce unwillingness for living donations to strangers, suggesting potential for increased organ donation rates.