Who donates their body to science? An international, multicenter, prospective study

Abstract

The altruistic act of body donation provides a precious resource for both teaching and researching human anatomy. However, relatively little is known about individuals who donate their bodies to science (donors), and in particular whether donors in different geographical locations share similar characteristics. A multicenter prospective survey of donors registering during 2010 in three different geographical locations, New Zealand, Ireland, and the Republic of South Africa, was conducted to identify donor characteristics. The 28-question survey included sections on body donation program awareness, reasons for donating, giving tendency, education, ethnicity, relationship status, occupation, religion, and political preference. Two hundred surveys (81%) were returned [New Zealand 123 (85% response rate), Republic of South Africa 41 (67%), and Ireland 36 (92%)]. Results indicate that donors share certain characteristics including reason for donating (80% cited a desire to aid medical science as the main reason for wishing to donate their body); family structure (most donors are or have been in long-term partnerships and ≥ 85% have siblings); and a higher proportion with no religious affiliation compared to their reference population. Some variations between locations were noted including donor age, the mode of program awareness, occupation, relationship status, political preference, organ donor status and with whom donors had discussed their decision to donate. This information could be important for assisting the identification of potential body donors in new and established bequest programs.

Attitudes of medical and allied medical students from Serbia toward whole body donation

“…This is not surprising as culture to a large extent shapes a person's attitude toward death and dying. Similar attitudinal variations between ethnic groups were noticed in other studies focusing on body donation (BOULWARE et al, 2004;CORNWALL et al, 2012;ALEXANDER et al, 2014). This is why students working with cadavers in their laboratories need to be approached and prepared in a way inclusive enough to account for cultural diversity.…”

Human body donation programs inSriLanka: Buddhist perspectives

“…However, the focus of these discussions has tended to be Western-centric. There is also a general expectation that religious belief will hinder people from donating their bodies (Boulware et al, 2002;Bolt et al, 2010;Cornwall et al, 2012;Arr aez-Aybar et al, 2014), although this may apply only to certain societies and cultures.…”

Predicting People’s Intention to Donate Their Body to Medical Science and Research

“…ALTHOUGH BODY DONATION IS ESSENTIAL for scientific and medical innovation, including anatomy teaching, surgical skills training and maintenance, and medical research, donations worldwide remain generally low (Boulware, Ratner, Cooper, LaVeist, & Powe, 2004;Cornwall, Perry, Louw, & Stringer, 2012a;Rokade & Gaikawad, 2012). Worldwide donation rate data are limited, as there are few centralized systems coordinating or recording the registrations, acceptances, and rejections of donated bodies among individual body bequest programs.…”

“…Studies have included retrospective descriptions of donors whose deceased body had already been donated (Dluzen, Brammer, Bernard & Keyser, 1996); of living registered donors (Bolt et al, 2010;Cornwall, et al, 2012a;McClea & Stringer, 2010;Wijbenga et al, 2010); and of enquiring potential donors (Richardson & Hurwitz, 1995). In addition, prospective random selection studies of the general community have assessed characteristics of donors and their willingness to donate (Boulware et al, 2004;Halou et al, 2013;Rokade & Gaikawad, 2012).…”

“…Attempts have been made to identify the most common characteristics of past and existing body donors to determine who to target as potential donors (Cornwall et al, 2012a). Studies have included retrospective descriptions of donors whose deceased body had already been donated (Dluzen, Brammer, Bernard & Keyser, 1996); of living registered donors (Bolt et al, 2010;Cornwall, et al, 2012a;McClea & Stringer, 2010;Wijbenga et al, 2010); and of enquiring potential donors (Richardson & Hurwitz, 1995).…”