Hello Fred
Good question! One that continues to tax all involved in organ donation. In
national sureveys around the world the majority of surveys have reported
about 75-92% support for organ donation, but these figures are not
reflected in the number of cards carried or the number on the register.
Saying what you would do and doing it are very different things it appears.
Suggestins for this include:
It is socially desirable to say yes to organ donation, but when actually
signing for a card you have to deal with all the questions this decision
raises.
Many people think about organ donation for the length of time it takes them
to answer the survey and then it is something they are always going to get
round to doing.
People have questions about the donation process to which they get mixed
answers and again delay in completing the card.
People talk and change their mind.


Sureveys are always problomatic when trying to provide answers as many
times the questions are black and white.
Many people use shades of grey in their decision making. so the question
"do you support organ donation?" may be answered yes, but if you then asked
"would you be a donor?" the answer may be 'well I might if I felt
confident that the following questions were answered. So surveys are not
all that helpful because they tend to measure 'intention' rather than
'deed', and we all know how good we are at 'meaning' to do things.

Sorry that was a bit long winded
Tracy


At 10:49 10/10/00 +0100, you wrote:
>
>HI Fred,
>
>I would think the difference is that when asked about such issues they then
>have to think about it to give an answer.
>At other times they tend to put it out of their minds so they don't think
>about filling a donor card in.
>
>
>It doesn't matter If everyone carried a card, while the law allows their
>next of kin to revoke it, plenty of organs will be lost.
>
>We should be fighting for the Opt-out clause and get rid of the opt-in
>clause.
>
> "from a person deeding a transplant who knows he isn't
> going to get it in this country, where Doctors play GOD"
>
>Cheers,
>Len.
>UK
>
>
>http://egroups.com/group/TortoiseWorld
>The friendly List for all Tortoises keepers.
>
>http://egroups.com/group/ReptileCare
>The friendly list for all Reptile keepers.
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Reid, Fred [mailto:afr1@...]
>Sent: 08 October 2000 17:28
>To: BODY-UK
>Subject: [BODY-UK] Public Opinion
>
>
>Hi everybody,
>
>I've just joined this list partly because I am generally interested in the
>issues surrounding organ donation and transplantation and partly because of
>a particular question. Public opinion surveys on whether people would want
>their organs to be used for transplantation after their death generally get
>a much greater proportion of people saying yes than actually carry organ
>donor cards. I would be very interested to hear how other people would
>explain the difference.
>
>Fred
>
>
>
>
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Tracy Long
Research Fellow
European Institute of Health and Medical Sciences
Duke of Kent Building
University of Surrey
Guildford
GU2 7TE