Abstract

Background: Islam supports concepts of transplantation that provide the strongest positive influence for organ donation both during life and at death.
Objective: To determine the public knowledge and attitudes toward organ donation, and to identify the factors that influence organ donation consent and refusal in KSA.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out including Saudi adults who attended the outpatient clinics in Prince Mansour Family and Community Hospital in Taif city throughout the study period. An Arabic-language question- naire was designed to capture information relevant to the study. It was filled in by the researcher through face-to-face interviews of the selected participants. The questionnaire comprised sociodemographic information, questions to explore knowledge of the participants about organ donation, and questions to assess participants’ attitudes regarding organ donation during the life and after death. Result: The study included 400 Saudi adults aged between 18 and 60 years (mean = 32.68 ± 9.17 years). Most of them (72%) were males. The majority (85.8%) of the participants has heard of—and was aware of—the organ donation programs. Almost two-thirds (62.4%) of the participants had their information about organ donation from the media whereas 37.6% and 33.8% from newspapers/magazines and the Internet, respectively. Only 12% had their information regarding organ donation from health-care workers. The knowledge score and attitudes toward organ donation increased gradually with the increasing educational level of the participants (p = 0.001). Almost 30.3% respondents were willing to donate an organ whereas 237 (59.3%) refused organ donation. Fear of complications and lack of proper post-donation care were the main reported reasons for non-willingness of organ donation in 54.9% participants. Conclusion: Negative attitudes toward organ donation reported by this study are justified by the inadequate information acquired by the public about this significant issue.