Indian and Pakistani students are hesitant to donate organs because of multiple factors, which if addressed in a culturally relevant manner could substantially improve donation rates.

Introduction The shortage of organs donated for transplantation in the UK is well known and the situation is worse among ethnic minorities. Previous work has often studied ethnic minorities in broad groups, failing, to differentiate by age or country of education. We investigated the factors which influence attitudes towards organ donation of the younger generation of ethnically Indian and Pakistani students, educated in the UK, to determine the attitudes in these groups and how they may change with the passage of time. Methods We conducted nine focus groups followed by eight semi-structured interviews. A total of fifty-eight participants were interviewed. Focus groups were divided by ethnicity and gender, and interviews were performed on each combination of ethnicity, gender and medical/ non-medical background. Results A thematic analysis of transcripts identified six influential factors: religion, culture, awareness of the importance of donation, the treatment of donors and their organs, the impact of medical education and family attitudes. Islam was significantly the most important factor for Pakistanis while for Indians all six were similarly relevant. Whilst previous studies have suggested that general level of education influences attitudes towards donation, we found that medical education specifically had a greater effect on shaping attitudes towards donation. Cultural changes gave an insight into how the younger generation may differ from the older generation as they adopt British culture which is more positively disposed towards donation. Family views remained important. Awareness of the importance of donation was very low in both groups. Conclusion Young Indian and Pakistanis are not against donation and in our study participants were generally open to the idea of donation after death. However the factors we identified suggested there is no single obstacle to organ donation. The significance of certain factors varied among Indians and Pakistanis and therefore they all need to be addressed in a culturally relevant manner to improve donation rates.