Attitudes, and barriers towards organ donation among university students, faculty and staff in Ajman, United Arab Emirates: Cross-sectional survey design

Figure 1 The prevalence of various levels of supportive attitudes among participants. It can be seen that 61.6% of respondents have moderate to high supportive attitudes.

Figure 2 The percentages of participants with the reported barriers for organ donations. The figure showed that not knowing enough about organ donation was seen as the biggest reason people are unsure about donating which was reported by 64.1% of those asked. Family members being against organ donation was less common, with only 26.4% saying it was an issue, while 736% did not have this problem. For most people, their religious beliefs did not stop them from supporting organ donation, as 83.7% said it did not go against their faith. Most people (78.9%) were not worried about how organ donation might change the appearance of the body. Also, only 22.2% thought that only young people could donate organs. Most people (82.2%) did not believe that organ donation was something only rich people could do. About 45.5% said that the lack of hospitals and facilities was a reason why people didn’t know much about organ donation. About 47.6% of the respondents were concerned about how organ donation might affect the lives of those who receive organs. Nearly half (49.3%) were worried about the possibility of donated organs being misused, while 507% did not think this was a problem. About 33.9% of people thought that mental health issues related to organ donation could be a problem, but 66.1% didn’t think so. Most people (86.0%) disagreed with the idea that organ donation disrespects human rights and dignity. Only 19.4% of participants were concerned that doctors might not try as hard to save the lives of organ donors only 17.8% of participants think that organ donation is only for family members. These results give important information about the challenges and misunderstandings people have about organ donation.