Darr A, Randhawa G
Faculty of Health Care & Social Studies, University of Luton, The Spires, 2 Adelaide Street, Luton, LU1 5DU, UK.
Transpl Int. 1999;12(5):365-71. doi: 10.1007/s001470050241.
Currently the demand for transplant organs, particularly kidneys, far outstrips the supply in the UK. This problem is particularly severe for the Asian population, which has been shown to have a disproportionately large representation on kidney-transplant waiting lists in some regions of the UK. The situation is clear: there is an urgent need to address the number of Asians requiring a kidney transplant, otherwise the human and economic costs will be very high. An exploratory qualitative study was therefore undertaken with the aim of assessing current awareness of organ donation and transplantation and to explore attitudes towards these issues in a cross section of the Asian population in Luton. It was found that nearly half of the respondents in this survey did not know what a donor card was used for, and approximately half of these had never seen one; only 6 of the 64 people interviewed had heard of the National Donor Register. Of the three people who carried a donor card, two had an immediate family member who had received a transplant. This suggests that media campaigns aimed at attracting donors from the Asian population have had limited success thus far. It appears that the vast majority of the Asian population is at the initial stage of the process of making a decision about donating their organs, that of simply knowing that transplantation takes place. Very little debate of pertinent issues seems to have taken place, which is essential for reaching a decision on whether or not to donate an organ. The study should be seen as exploratory but is nonetheless an important initial step towards the establishment of a greater knowledge and understanding of the issues affecting the low donation rate in the Asian population.
目前在英国，对移植器官尤其是肾脏的需求远远超过了供应。这个问题在亚洲人群中尤为严重，在英国一些地区的肾脏移植等候名单上，亚洲人群的占比过高。情况很明显：迫切需要解决亚洲人肾脏移植的需求数量问题，否则人力和经济成本将会非常高昂。因此开展了一项探索性的定性研究，旨在评估当前对器官捐赠和移植的认知情况，并探究卢顿地区亚洲人群体对这些问题的态度。研究发现，在此次调查中近一半的受访者不知道捐赠卡的用途，其中约一半人从未见过捐赠卡；在接受采访的64人中，只有6人听说过国家捐赠登记册。在携带捐赠卡的三人中，有两人有直系亲属接受过移植手术。这表明，迄今为止旨在吸引亚洲人群体成为捐赠者的媒体宣传活动成效有限。看来绝大多数亚洲人群体仍处于决定是否捐赠器官过程的初始阶段，即仅仅知道有移植这回事。对于是否捐赠器官这一决定至关重要的相关问题，似乎很少有讨论。该研究应被视为探索性的，但它仍是朝着深入了解影响亚洲人群体低捐赠率问题迈出的重要第一步。
