Reservations of the Spirit: The Development of a Culturally Sensitive Spiritual Beliefs Scale About Organ Donation

Abstract

This study investigated whether spiritual beliefs offered any explanation for why participants from Korea (N = 146), Japan (N = 134), and the United States (N = 146) were willing or reluctant to register as organ donors. A culturally appropriate measure of spiritual beliefs about organ donation, the Spiritual Beliefs Scale, was developed consisting of 2 factors: (a) Spiritual Connection and (b) Spiritual Concern. Spiritual Connection was a significant predictor of behavioral intention to become an organ donor for Korean respondents, whereas Spiritual Concern was a significant predictor of reluctance to become an organ donor for American respondents. Spiritual beliefs correlated as predicted with attitude toward organ donation and fear of bodily mutilation, showing that the Spiritual Beliefs Scale exhibited internal, external, and predictive validity. Across the 3-country sample, Spiritual Connection was associated with greater willingness to become an organ donor for women, whereas Spiritual Concern inhibited participation for men. Implications of these findings are discussed for developing culturally effective education and procurement campaigns.

Australian perioperative nurses’ attitudes, levels of knowledge, education and support needs related to organ donation and procurement surgery: A national survey

“…This was similarly identified among other studies of perioperative nurses where willingness to donate organs has been explored 6,29 . However, this view was not compatible with other earlier studies where other health professionals revealed lower levels of commitment towards donating their own organs for a variety of reasons 5,20,24,29 . Individual attitudes and beliefs towards organ and tissue donation were impacted by religious beliefs and religion is an important precursor to how health professionals view OTD.…”

“…A common issue identified is emotional and conflicting attitudes and beliefs towards certain aspects of the donation process 1,3,6,12,[13][14][15] . Many health professionals identified varied attitudes and beliefs towards ethical issues, aspects of premortem care from both adult and paediatric donors [16][17][18] and cultural or spiritual beliefs related to having a whole body at the time of death 14,19,20 . Other literature describes the attitudes of health professionals caring for potential organ donors and their professional roles of advocating for the donation process in order to boost organ donation rates 9-11, 15,21-25 .…”

“…Insufficient or no OTD education provided to health professionals who are closely involved in the procurement is reported as a global issue, not only in the nursing arena but also among medical staff, surgical groups and donor coordinators 8,12,14,21,33 . Several authors have emphasised that education was often lacking or brief and limited to attendance at day-long seminars or workshops on donation and transplantation with no emphasis on preparing health professionals adequately for their participation in these procedures 4,7,20,[29][30][31] . The need for professional education has been reported in multiple countries [34][35][36] .…”

Cultural influences on willingness to donate organs among urban native Americans

“…Cultural equivalence reflects the minimization of cultural bias and measurement error in the development and/or adaptation of assessment tools . First, we drew from a pool of 63 questions from the three instruments: the Organ Donation & Transplantation Knowledge Survey (ODTK), the Organ Donation Attitude Survey (ODAS), and the Spiritual Beliefs Scale About Organ Donation (SBS) . The ODTK is an 18‐item questionnaire measuring knowledge‐based questions pertaining to organ donation and transplantation issues.…”

“…42 First, we drew from a pool of 63 questions from the three instruments: the Organ Donation & Transplantation Knowledge Survey (ODTK), 21 the Organ Donation Attitude Survey (ODAS), 43 and the Spiritual Beliefs Scale About Organ Donation (SBS). 44 The ODTK is an 18-item questionnaire measuring knowledge-based questions pertaining to organ donation and transplantation issues. Respondents are asked to rate their responses using a 4-point scale: "strongly agree" (4 points), "agree" (3 points), "disagree" (2 points), and "strongly disagree" in the recipient of donated organs.…”