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Increasing the willingness to participate in organ donation through humorous health communication: (Quasi-) experimental evidence.

ABSTRACT: Increasing people's willingness to donate organs after their death requires effective communication strategies. In two preregistered studies, we assessed whether humorous entertainment education formats on organ donation elicit positive effects on knowledge, fears, attitudes, and behavioral intentions-both immediately after the treatment and four weeks later. We test whether perceived funniness mediates expected effects on attitudes and intentions. Study 1 is a quasi-experiment which uses a live medical comedy show (N = 3,964) as an entertainment education format, which either contained or did not contain information about organ donation. Study 2, a lab experiment, tests humor's causal effect in a pre-post design with a control group (N = 144) in which the same content was provided in either a humorous or non-humorous way in an audio podcast. Results showed that humorous interventions per se were not more effective than neutral information, but that informing people about organ donation in general increased donation intentions, attitudes, and knowledge. However, humorous interventions were especially effective in reducing fears related to organ donation. The findings are discussed regarding the opportunities for sensitive health communication through entertainment education formats, psychological processes that humor triggers, and humor's role in health communication formats.

SUBMITTER: Betsch C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7678957 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Increasing the willingness to participate in organ donation through humorous health communication: (Quasi-) experimental evidence.

Betsch Cornelia C Schmid-Küpke Nora K NK Otten Leonie L von Hirschhausen Eckart E

PloS one 20201120 11

Increasing people's willingness to donate organs after their death requires effective communication strategies. In two preregistered studies, we assessed whether humorous entertainment education formats on organ donation elicit positive effects on knowledge, fears, attitudes, and behavioral intentions-both immediately after the treatment and four weeks later. We test whether perceived funniness mediates expected effects on attitudes and intentions. Study 1 is a quasi-experiment which uses a live ...[more]

PMID: 33216739

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Project description:BackgroundMaintaining adequately high organ donation rates proves essential to offering patients all appropriate and available treatment options. However, the act of donation is in itself an individual decision that requires a depth of understanding that interacts with the social setting and the institutional framework into which an individual is embedded. This study contributes to understanding factors driving organ donation rates by examining how country regulation, individuals' awareness of regulatory setting, social interactions and socio-demographic determinants influence individuals' willingness to donate their own organs or those of a relative.MethodsWe draw representative data from the Eurobarometer survey 58.2 undertaken in 2002 with respondents throughout the European Union to capture heterogeneity in institutional setting. We use logistic regression techniques to estimate the determinants of willingness to donate one's own organs and those of a deceased relative. We employ interaction terms to examine the relationship between institutional setting and respondent's awareness of organ donation legislation in their country.ResultsOur findings indicate that individuals are more likely to donate their organs than to consent to the donation of a relative's organs. Both decisions are affected by regulation (presumed consent), awareness of regulation and social interactions such as the ability to count on others in case of a serious problem (reciprocity). Furthermore, education (more educated), age (younger), expressing some sort of political affiliation determine willingness to donate one's own organs and consent to the donation of those of a relative.ConclusionThis study confirms and develops further previous research findings that presumed consent organ donation policy positively affects the willingness of individuals to donate their own organs and those of relative by highlighting the importance of awareness of this regulation and an individual's level of social interactions in making choices about donation. Results found using interaction terms underline the importance of population awareness of organ donation legislation as well as the legislation type itself. Findings also point to the role of social interactions in influencing individuals' willingness to donate their organs or those of a relative.

Project description:Medical advancements over the past decades brought organ transplantation as a definitive therapy for different end-stage organ failure. However, non-availability of organs required for transplantation is a major challenge worldwide. We aimed to determine the knowledge and willingness to donate organs in various populations and settings in the Middle Eastern region. Literature searches were conducted on PubMed, MEDLINE, Cochrane, and Google scholar electronic databases. Different combinations of search terms such as "organ donation"; "knowledge", "awareness"; "beliefs", "willingness"; and "attitude" along with the country names were used. Additional searches using reference lists of studies and review articles were conducted. Data were extracted using standardized excel form and pilot tested. Three authors independently abstracted the data using a data collection form. Results from different studies were pooled for the analysis when appropriate. The search yielded 1806 articles; 1000 duplicates and review articles were excluded, and a further 792 articles not relevant were excluded. Finally, 14 original studies met the inclusion criteria. Total pooled sample size for assessing knowledge was 6697 and for willingness was 8714. Pooled overall knowledge regarding organ donation was 69% with a 95% CI [64.5, 73.5]. Pooled overall willingness to donate organ was 49.8% with a 95% CI [41.3, 58.4]. Knowledge about organ donation and willingness to donate organs varies in different population and settings in the Middle East. These in fact are linked to multiple social factors ultimately leads to 'consent' for donating organs by a potential donor. Family's influence; religious, traditional and spiritual beliefs; and status of ethnic, minority, and immigrant populace are the important determinants of the decision for organ donation. Understandings on social determinants in organ donation remain crucial and should be addressed while developing policies and organizational developments.

Dataset Information

Increasing the willingness to participate in organ donation through humorous health communication: (Quasi-) experimental evidence.

Publications

Increasing the willingness to participate in organ donation through humorous health communication: (Quasi-) experimental evidence.

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