Attitudes of European students towards family decision‑making and the harmonisation of consent systems in deceased organ donation: a cross‑national survey
Metadatos
Afficher la notice complèteAuteur
Molina Pérez, Alberto; Delgado Rodríguez, Janet; Rodríguez Hannikainen, Ivar Allan; Rodríguez Arias Vailhen, DavidEditorial
BMC
Materia
Organ donation Consent Family involvement Policy harmonisation Survey
Date
2022-11-15Referencia bibliográfica
Molina-Pérez, A... [et al.]. Attitudes of European students towards family decision-making and the harmonisation of consent systems in deceased organ donation: a cross-national survey. BMC Public Health 22, 2080 (2022). [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14476-z]
Patrocinador
CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI)Résumé
Background: European countries are increasingly harmonising their organ donation and transplantation policies.
Although a growing number of nations are moving to presumed consent to deceased organ donation, no attempts
have been made to harmonise policies on individual consent and the role of the family in the decision-making process.
Little is known about public awareness of and attitudes towards the role of the family in their own country and
European harmonisation on these health policy dimensions. To improve understanding of these issues, we examined
what university students think about the role of the family in decision-making in deceased organ donation and about
harmonising consent policies within Europe.
Methods: Using LimeSurvey© software, we conducted a comparative cross-sectional international survey of 2193
university students of health sciences and humanities/social sciences from Austria (339), Belgium (439), Denmark
(230), Germany (424), Greece (159), Romania (190), Slovenia (190), and Spain (222).
Results: Participants from opt-in countries may have a better awareness of the family’s legal role than those from
opt-out countries. Most respondents opposed the family veto, but they were more ambivalent towards the role of the
family as a surrogate decision-maker. The majority of participants were satisfied with the family’s legal role. However,
those who were unsatisfied preferred to limit family involvement. Overall, participants were opposed to the idea of
national sovereignty over consent policies. They favoured an opt-out policy harmonisation and were divided over
opt-in. Their views on harmonisation of family involvement were consistent with their personal preferences. Conclusions: There is overall division on whether families should have a surrogate role, and substantial opposition to
granting them sole authority over decision-making. If European countries were to harmonise their policies on consent
for organ donation, an opt-out system that grants families a surrogate decision-making role may enjoy the widest
public support.