Knowledge, Awareness and Attitudes on Organ Donation among Undergraduate Medical Students in Malaysia: An Analytical Cross Sectional Study

There is a shortage of organs for transplant globally. Malaysia has one of the lowest deceased organ donation rates in the world. The shortage in organ supply is perceived to be due to a lack of awareness and knowledge among the public and health care providers, particularly the medical students in Malaysia.

Objective: The present study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitudes and perception, to determine the prevalence of organ donors and establishing a relationship between various socio-demographic data on knowledge, awareness and perception of organ donation among private undergraduate medical students in Malaysia.

Methods: This observational analytical cross-sectional study was carried out by using the questionnaire method. The questionnaire was categorized into four sections (demographic data, Knowledge, Willingness and Attitude). The data was analysed by using Epi Info version 7.0. For inferential statistics, chi-square and independent t-test were used. The socio-demographic data were then compared with the knowledge, awareness and perception data collected and ANOVA (analysis of variance) was performed.

Results: This study involved 372 medical students. Only 21.2% have good knowledge on organ transplant. 71.2% of students were willing to register for organ donation but only 14.5% were registered donors. There is a significant positive low correlation (r=0.346) between knowledge score and the willingness to donate organs. The older respondents (P=0.043), male gender (P=0.018) and Indian students (P=0.018) are more likely to have higher knowledge score on organ donations. The higher the parent’s education level, the more willing are students to donate their organs (P=0.013, P=0.014). Hindus are 2.37 times and Buddhist are 2.08 times more likely to have a positive attitude towards organ donation when compared against Muslims (P=0.019, P=0.014).

Conclusion: The prevalence of registered organ donors is higher among medical students compared to the general population in the country. The knowledge of organ donations among medical students is only moderate and hence can be improved through better awareness programs and more structured lectures. High knowledge level on organ donations lead to higher willingness and more positive attitude towards organ donations.