Public awareness and attitudes toward biobank and sample donation: A regional Chinese survey

Abstract

BackgroundThe biobank is an extraordinary aid to research and scientific progress. Public involvement in biobanks, necessary for their development, is limited due to inadequate knowledge of biobanking and concerns about sample donation. This study explores the effectiveness of different publicity methods in improving participants' willingness to donate, and assesses public motivations and concerns. It aims to identify an efficient method of improving participants' awareness of biobanking and promoting sample donation.MethodsA structured 20-item questionnaire was formulated to evaluate participants' knowledge of and attitudes toward biobanks and sample donation. In total, 1,500 questionnaires were disseminated to three groups of 500 participants who received, respectively, picture-based promotional material, text-based promotional material, or who attended a biobank-related lecture. Of these, 945 completed questionnaires were received. All the participants completed the questionnaires twice, before and after the corresponding publicity education.ResultsAfter each of the three methods of publicity based on text, pictures and a lecture, respondents' willingness to donate samples was significantly increased (P < 0.001), the lecture being more effective than the other two methods (P = 0.001). Participants with a medical background were more willing to donate biospecimens after publicity than those without medical backgrounds (P < 0.005) but had common motivations for donation including altruism and aiding medical research. The main concern hindering respondents' willingness to donate was the security of personal information.ConclusionDifferent types of biobank-related publicity based on text material, pictorial material and a lecture all improved respondents' willingness to donate and reduced concerns regarding sample donation. Medical background was a critical factor affecting attitudes toward sample donation after publicity. The results of this study suggest strategies that may popularize biobanks and enhance sample donation, further promoting the development of biobanks.

Enhancing participant understanding and ethical considerations in clinical trial biospecimen research: Insights from an oncology setting in India

“…By addressing these concerns, researchers can create a supportive environment for using samples in future studies. Gao et al, (2022) examined attitudes toward bio-bank sample donation via structured questionnaires using different promotional materials: picture-based, text-based, and a lecture. Pre-and post-session responses revealed increased willingness to donate, with the lecture being most effective.…”

Awareness of biobanking among patients and doctors: experience of the Tomsk Oblast

“…В мире активно проводятся исследования на тему осведомленности о биобанкировании, доверия к научноисследовательским институтам, готовности и мотивации общества жертвовать свои биообразцы, причины отказа от участия в биомедицинских исследованиях и биобанкировании, предпочтительного варианта информированного согласия, отношения к передаче в другие организации и страны биоматериала и связанных данных. Анализ публикаций базы данных Medline показал, что методология таких исследований преимущественно включала количественные опросы [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], также ряд исследований выполнен с применением качественных методов полуструктурированного или структурированного интервью [17][18][19][20][21][22][23] и методом фокус-группы [24][25][26].…”

“…Высокая осведомленность наблюдалась в североевропейских странах, включая Исландию (80%), Швецию (75%) и Норвегию (65%) [27]. В Китае среди преимущественно городских жителей с высшим образованием (n=945) 20,7% были знакомы с термином "биобанк" [10]. В исследовании 2014г, с участием молодых людей в России (n=542, средний возраст 19,5±2), осведомленность о биобанках составила 21% [16].…”

A leap of faith: building the trust in human biobanks

“…The funds of public HBs mainly come from public taxes, and public support and trust are crucial to their successful operation ( Tozzo and Caenazz0, 2020 ); (3) Public HBs are the biobanks most closely related to the majority of the populace. As indispensable infrastructures within biomedical research, they are essential for public wellbeing, thereby necessitating prioritization of trust-related issues within these biobanks ( Gao et al, 2022 ); (4) The public often has a strong willingness to participate in and donate to public HBs, rendering discussions on public trust in public HBs particularly pertinent ( Critchley et al, 2021 ); (5) In the current era characterized by the prominence of big data, public HBs offer greater accessibility to biological information encompassing clinical data and lifestyle influences compared to private HBs, making their public trust issues more prominent ( Pastorino et al, 2019 ). Thus, building upon a theoretical analysis, this paper endeavors to provide a helpful approach for building public trust in public HBs to facilitate their better development and governance.…”