Attitude, Willingness, and Associated Factors in Organ Donation Among Health Professionals in Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND

Organ transplantation is considered one of the greatest advances of modern science, and it has given many patients a renewed lease on life. The demand for organs far exceeds the supply. Health professionals are fundamental in the process of organ procurement.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the attitude, willingness, and associated factors in organ donation among health professionals of Gondar, Ethiopia.

METHODS

Our cross-sectional study was conducted among 382 randomly selected health professionals in Gondar using a self-administered questionnaire. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was applied to analyze the data.

RESULTS

Among health professionals, 79.1% had favorable attitude toward organ donation and 74.6% were willing to donate their organs. After adjusting for covariates, the odds of having a favorable attitude about organ donation were 3.2 and 11.9 times higher in the professions of laboratory technologists and medical doctors, respectively. By keeping all other variables constant, attitude was found to be positively associated with awareness (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 12.74, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.71-43.8) and being a member of the Red Cross Association (aOR 5.24, 95% CI 1.46-18.96). Willingness was positively associated with awareness (aOR 6.25, 95% CI 2.0-19.53), a member of the Red Cross Association (aOR 5.09, 95% CI 1.5-17.22), a laboratory technologist (aOR 3.57, 95% CI 1.37-9.29), and a medical doctor (aOR 6.52, 95 % CI 1.93-22.01).

CONCLUSIONS

The main findings indicated that the majority of health professionals in Gondar had a favorable attitude toward organ donation and were willing to donate their organs in times of need.