Each day in the United States, an average of 21 people die due to the lack of available organs for transplant.
Each day in the United States, an average of 21 people die due to the lack of available organs for transplant.
And that happens despite the fact that a single donor can save up to eight lives through organ donation, and can save or enhance more than 100 lives through tissue donation, according to the American Transplant Foundation.
Donating one’s organs after death remains a taboo subject for some people, and there’s always plenty of misinformation, urban myths and more to be found in popular culture that serves to dissuade people from signing the organ donor line on their driver’s license, said Cheryl Albright, a researcher at the University of Hawaii at Manoa School of Nursing & Dental Hygiene.
“(Post-mortem donations) have many, many issues that involve culture, ethics, religion, and medical issues, as well,” she said. “There has to be a match between the donor and the recipient … So there are a lot of people who find this topic unappealing for a lot of reasons.
“We know from my previous research with high school students here in Hawaii, as well as college students, that a lot of urban legends and myths portrayed in the TV and movie industry can make people feel uncomfortable or make people feel there are things going on that they’re not believing or thinking that could happen.”
Attitudes can vary widely between groups with different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and scholars know little about the attitudes toward organ donation after death among Asian, Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander populations, Albright said.
“There isn’t a whole lot known about college students, especially college students from Hawaii. Or college students from Asian/Pacific Islanders. … There isn’t a whole lot of information out there on this age population in Hawaii, including ethnic minorities,” she said.
“There is evidence that there are a lot of people here in Hawaii that are on a transplant waiting list that are Pacific Islanders, so the need is great for people who are organ donors on their licenses to also be a Pacific Islander.”
Albright is currently heading a study on attitudes about organ donation, as well as the effectiveness of campaigns aimed at increasing donations. Recently, she was awarded a nearly $320,000 federal grant to investigate opinions on the subject among undergraduate college students in Hawaii, as well as their responsiveness to awareness campaigns.
Last week, she joined her Hilo campus research partner, Misty Pacheco, an assistant professor of kinesiology and exercise science, in Hilo to drum up interest in a series of new contests, aimed at getting undergraduate students to join in the effort to spread awareness by finding creative new ways to spread information and interest about organ donation.
Entry in the contests, which began Sept. 8 and will run through Nov. 19, is limited to undergraduate students over 18 at UH Hilo or UH Manoa. That’s an important age range, because it catches young people at a time right before they turn 21, when many will opt to get a new license.
Because organ donation isn’t in the public eye very much, the decision about whether to sign on as an organ donor usually is made with little information and very quickly, she said.
“It’s an important decision,” Albright said. “We want people to think about it.”
Students may enter different contests with varying themes every two weeks by making an informational post on Instagram. Rules and themes can be found at idecidehawaii.org. Prizes for the winning entries range from $200-$500. Additionally, students can help a registered independent student organization win between $500 and $1,000 for having the most students pledging to be an organ donor on their next driver’s license.
The students on campus have already been surveyed and will be surveyed again at the end of the contests to show how attitudes may have been affected by the social media campaign.
“We’ll do more measurements on the impact, the knowledge, the attitudes, the mobilization, about whether they will become a donor on their next license,” Albright said.
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.