Browne, Christina and Desmond, Deirdre (2008) Intention to consent to living organ donation: an exploratory study. Psychology, Health and Medicine, 13 (5). pp. 605-609. ISSN 1354-8506

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Abstract

Living organ donation, i.e. the removal and transplantation of whole organs or segments of organs that a volunteering donor can live without, has been proposed as an effective and sustainable source of transplantable organs to mitigate the deficit in supply from the traditional cadaveric donor pool. In 2006 the Irish government deemed the development of a national Living Transplant Programme a service priority. The current study aimed to investigate the efficacy of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) in the context of living organ donation intentions in an Irish sample. One hundred and thirty five undergraduate students (75 females, 60 males; mean age 20.6 years, SD 3.76) completed a self-report questionnaire assessing TPB variables whilst imagining themselves in a potential living liver donation scenario. In general, attitudes toward living donation were favorable. TPB components explained 44.8% of the variance in intentions. Attitude toward living donation emerged as the strongest predictor of intention. Self-reported levels of knowledge regarding living donation were generally poor. In light of recent EU Communications proposing the expansion of the use of living donors greater understanding of the determinants, psychological implications and ethical considerations in living donation decisions is necessary.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is a preprint of an article whose final and definitive form has been published in Psychology, Health and Medicine © 2008[copyright Taylor & Francis]; Psychology, Health and Medicine is available online at www.tandfonline.com/[Article DOI: 10.1080/13548500701842958 ]
Keywords:	living organ donation; theory of planned behaviour;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Psychology
Item ID:	3813
Depositing User:	Dr. Deirdre Desmond
Date Deposited:	08 Aug 2012 13:58
Journal or Publication Title:	Psychology, Health and Medicine
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Refereed:	No
URI:	http://www.tandfonline.com
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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