Knowledge and attitudes toward brain death and organ donation in Bojnurd

BACKGROUND: Organ donation in Iran is common. Bojnurd (North Khorasan, Iran) is a multi-ethnic city, and people with different religions and cultures live together and that could be associated with their behavior and attitude towards health-related issues. So far, no study has taken place on brain death and organ donation in the province of North Khorasan. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge and attitudes of citizens of Bojnurd toward brain death and organ donation. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted from March to September 2014, on 380 Bojnurd citizens who were selected through multi-stage sampling. The tool was a researcher-made questionnaire in three parts (demographic information, awareness and attitude surveys), containing 10 questions on awareness and 18 questions on attitude. The questionnaire validity and reliability were confirmed by content validity and Cronbach’s alpha (0.76). The data were analyzed by using SPSS version 16, using Chi-square, independent-samples t-test, and Spearman correlation coefficient. Significance level was set at p<0.05. RESULTS: Three hundred and eighty participants with the average age of 29.91±9.32 were studied, of which 55% were female. The average score of awareness and attitude was 11.42 (±2.40) and 39.8 (±6.01) respectively. The awareness of the majority of the people (63%) regarding organ donation was moderate and the attitude toward organ donation in the majority (74.1%) was poor. In people with poor attitudes, awareness was also lower, and this was statistically significant (p=0.047). CONCLUSION: the attitude towards organ donation was negative in the majority of the citizens. In order to correct the beliefs, develop positive attitude and increase citizens’ knowledge, public education is essential.