South Korean Theology Student Opinions About Xenotransplantation

Purpose: The major limitation to the progress of allotransplantation has been the limited number of organ donors. One of the options being considered to alleviate this short-fall is xenotransplantation (XTx). Progress in the experimental laboratory and the greater possibility of clinical trials necessitates exploration of the public's perceptions and attitudes regarding the procedure for individual programs. Such explorations are especially needed for subpopulations that influence public response to major ethical issues. The purpose of the current work was to determine attitudes and perceptions about XTx among South Korean Christian seminary students.Method: After IRB approval, undergraduate and graduate theology students were contacted via text message and invited to participate; a sample of n = 123 agreed and were primarily graduate single males between the ages of 19-39.Findings: They had a highly positive attitude toward human organ transplantation (M = 4.5; 1 to 5 scale), with an overall neutral attitude toward pig organ transplantation (M = 2.9). Multiple Linear Regression found that religious belief was the strongest factor negatively associated with their XTx acceptance level (p = .01), followed by psychosocial concerns (p = .03), and medical results (p = .04).Conclusions: Given the descriptive statistics showing the lack of understanding about transplantation-related issues, the impact of their religious belief should be interpreted cautiously. Acomprehensive overview of the findings suggests. XTx is apublic policy issue, and not just amatter of personal religious beliefs, psychosocial concern, or medical risk. South Korean religious communities have an important role to play in the acceptance of biomedical technology to ensure that greater numbers of society perceive benefit and support its existence.