Social marketing may help: Organ donation among college students in a developing country perspective

Abstract

In the European Union (EU), USA, and Turkey 19, 30, and 6 people respectively die each day while they are waiting for organ transplants that cannot take place because of the shortage of donated organs. Organ transplantation has become an accepted medical treatment for end-stage organ failure, but unfortunately, the only way to perform these treatments is the organ donation. This study aims to determine potential organ donors’ – university students-knowledge and attitudes about organ donation. The survey was administrated to the students at Luleburgaz and Vize Vocational Colleges of Kirklareli University, Kirklareli-Turkey. A 96 question questionnaire was asked to 705 university students by convenient sampling method. The data were analyzed with logistic regression by using IBM SPSS 20 program. At the end of the study, more than half of the college students have positive attitude on cadaveric organ donation. Kidney donation constitutes the highest ratio followed by heart donation. TV has been found the most informing source about acquiring information related to organ donation. Four different regression models indicate several positive and negative relationships between “willingness to donate organ” and “major reasons to donate organ”, “the ways to increase organ donation”, “reasons of rejecting organ donation”, and “most informing source that students acquire information about organ donation”. © 2016 IABE.