Awareness and Attitude Regarding Organ Transplantation among People Residing in Rural and Urban Area, Ernakulam District

Back ground: Organ transplantation is one of the most miraculous achievements of modern medicine. It is the gift of an organ to help someone else who needs a transplant. But they depend entirely on the generosity of donors and their families who are willing to make this lifesaving gift to others. One donor can give life to several people and restore the sight two more. There is a severe shortage of organs and the gap between the number of organs donated and the number of people waiting for transplant is increasing. Right now, more than 10,000 people in the India need an organ transplant and every year 1,000 people die while waiting. The reason behind this problem is the scarcity of donors. The main reason is lack of knowledge among the public regarding the organ transplantation. The purpose of the study is to assess the public awareness and attitude regarding organ transplantation so as to provide data on the learning needs of the specific population. The objectives of the study were to 1. Assess the awareness and attitude regarding organ transplantation in urban and rural population 2. Compare the awareness and attitude regarding organ transplantation in rural and urban population 3. Find the association between organ transplantation among rural and urban population with selected variables.

Methodology: A quantitative research approach has been used in the study and the research design was Non experimental comparative descriptive survey design. The subjects comprised 50 peoples of rural and urban population convenience sampling technique was used to select the sample. A self-administered semi structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from the people. A five point Likert scale used to assess attitude towards organ transplantation. The data thus obtained was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Result: The results revealed that 36 subjects (72%) in rural area and 38 subjects(76%)urban area had moderate awareness regarding organ transplantation. The results also show that 32 subjects (64%) in rural area and 28 subjects (56%) in urban area had favorable attitude towards organ transplantation. There was no significant difference found in awareness score and attitude score between the rural and urban population regarding the organ transplantation. Statistically there was significant association between the occupational status of the people residing in rural area and level of awareness score and there was a significant association between occupation and religion with attitude towards organ transplantaion among people residing in urban area.

Conclusion: Most of the people had moderately adequate awareness regarding organ transplantation. Despite the positive attitude towards organ transplantation the awareness of the people regarding organ transplantation remains average. There is a need of providing education to the people regarding organ transplantation for improving their awareness and attitude.