Análisis intratextual de los personajes en la obra El niño que amaba las estrellas y otros cuentos

This study showed that only 9.8% of the respondents had good knowledge of organ donation.

The result is consistent with the finding of a similar study conducted to assess nurses‟

knowledge which reported that only 10.8% of the nurses had good knowledge of organ donation (Ozdag and Bal, 2001). The findings of this study however showed a much lower prevalence of adequate knowledge regarding organ donation when compared to 65.5%

reported by an earlier study in Pakistan (Ashraf, Ali, Ali, Ali, Alam et al., 2005), 68.3% in Canada (Molzahn, 1997) and 85.2% in Curitiba, Brazil (Coelho, Cilião, Parolin, De Freitas, Gama Filho et al., 2007).

A justification for the variance in knowledge could be because different knowledge variables were used in this study as compared to the other studies for the assessment of knowledge status of respondents with regards to organ donation. The limited knowledge of respondents about organ donation may also be indicative of the novelty of organ donation and transplantation in Nigeria and a paucity of teaching on the subject of organ donation in health professionals‟ training curriculum. The knowledge result in this study is however consistent with the findings of deficit knowledge concerning organ donation among health professionals in Korea (Kim, Elliot and Hyde, 2004), nurses in Hong Kong (Ozdag and Bal, 2001; Chan et al., 1997) and doctors in Netherlands (Schutt, 2000).

Majority of the respondents knew that organs for donation can come from both living persons as well as cadavers. This is significantly different from a previous study where only 23%

knew that organs for donation can come from both living persons as well as cadavers (Saleem et al, 2009). Respondents chose different reasons for the purpose of organ donation; each individual chose an option nearest to their understanding for the reasons that drive organ donation. A notable finding of this study is that most respondents believed that the principal aim of organ donation is to save lives while only a few reported otherwise. This is quite noteworthy because in principle, the kind of understanding expected of the purpose for organ donation is the kind of donation that is driven by altruistic purposes (WHO 2010; McIntyre, Barnett, Harris, Shanteau, Skowronski et al., 1987). Consistent with the findings of this study, a study from Pakistan showed that apart from majority (71.5%) answering about saving

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another human‟s life, a few responded that organ donation is done out of compassion/sympathy (15.2%) while only 1.0% cited monetary benefits (Khan, Masood, Tufail, Shoukat, Ashraf et al., 2011). A distinctive or peculiar result from this study are a few others who thought that it is done out of threat.

In this study, knowledge about different organs that can be donated for transplantation varied from 74.0%, 33.1%, 32.1%, 27.0%, 20.4%, 13.2% and 3.6% for kidney, bone marrow, heart, liver, cornea, lung and pancreas respectively. In a similar study done by Yeun, Burton, Chiraseveenuprapund, Elmore, Wong et al. (1998) and Maroof et al. (2011), level of knowledge was greatest about kidney donation. The proportion of respondents in this study who knew about liver donation was almost the same as the study conducted by Maroof et al.

but while almost half (48.8%) of their respondents knew about cornea donation, only 20.4%

of respondents knew about this in the present study. Similarly, the result of the study in consistence with this present study showed that their respondents were least knowledgeable about lung and pancreas donation (Maroof et al., 2011). Consistent with the result of this study that only 22.6% of the respondents knew that kidney, heart, bone marrow, liver, cornea, lung and pancreas can all be donated is the finding of Saleem et al (2009) that only 26.2% of their respondents knew that all of the organs studied can be donated.

This study revealed that majority of the respondents knew that kidneys can be donated for transplantation in Nigeria. This finding can be explained on the basis that there have been more emphasis and awareness creation on kidney donation than other organs of the body as evident in a number of studies focusing on kidney donation (Chijioke et al., 2010; Aghanwa et al., 2003; Bamgboye 2003; Fadare and Salako, 2010) and the number of hospitals that perform kidney transplantation in Nigeria. It is however disheartening that despite the fact that respondents were health professionals, only a few of them knew that bone marrow and corneas can be donated for transplantation in Nigeria. Bone marrow transplantation is relatively new in Nigeria with the first procedure carried out in 2012 at UBTH and despite the recognition and commendation accorded this feat, only 21.1% of the respondents were aware of this. Even more dismal is the poor knowledge about cornea donation, the only cadaveric donation that has been backed by law since 1973 (Oluyade, 2011) and which its

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transplantation has been in existence in the country since 1972 (University College Hospital, 2011). This suggests that the health professionals are not well acquainted with the state of organ donation and transplantation in Nigeria.

A few of the respondents reported that children and aged are categories of people who cannot donate an organ. According to the WHO Guiding Principles on HCTT, minors (children) and incompetent persons are eligible to donate their organs provided measures are put in place to protect such persons and assent obtained where possible (WHO, 2010). Insight into the trends of organ donation and transplantation as it relates to age of donors and recipients spanning 10 years (2000-2009) also revealed that the age of living donors ranged from less than 11 years to over 65 years while that of deceased donors and transplant recipients both ranged from less than 1 year to over 65 years (Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network/Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, 2010).

Although with a higher proportion (93.1%), observation from this study is comparable with two studies done in Pakistan which reported that 64.6% and 55.8% of their respondents knew that organ donation is associated with some risks to the donor (Khan et al., 2011; Saleem et al., 2009). While only about 25.0% of respondents from the study conducted by Saleem et al.

knew that organ donation could be associated with all of infection, pain, body weakness, bleeding, anxiety and depression, 44.0% of respondents who participated in this study knew that organ donation is associated with all of the above mentioned risks. The disparity in knowledge about these risks may be explained on the basis of difference in study population;

the study by Saleem et al. was conducted among the general public while this study was conducted among health professionals who are better placed to know more about risks associated with a surgical procedure because they work day to day in the hospital environment.

Among the socio-demographic variables under consideration, kind of profession, sex and level of education were significantly associated with knowledge about organ donation while age and religion were not. The kind of profession, sex and level of education positively influenced the knowledge about organ donation while age and religion had no influence on knowledge. The observation that the association between age and knowledge was not

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statistically significant is comparable with similar studies done in Karachi, Pakistan (Saleem et al., 2009) and Kingston, Ontario (Bardell, Hunter, Kent and Jain, 2003) but contrary to the finding of another study from Nurpur Shahan also in Pakistan (Maroof et al., 2011). Similarly consistent with the result of this study is the finding from a Pakistan study which revealed that religion did not have a significant association with knowledge about organ donation (Saleem et al., 2009).

Despite the lack of sufficient knowledge observed among all the categories of health professionals in this study, the doctors were significantly more knowledgeable about organ donation than the other health professionals. Previous studies by Akgun et al. (2003) and Bener, El-Shoubaki and Al-Mosalamani (2008) have similarly noted that doctors have significantly higher knowledge level about organ donation than nurses. Contrary to the finding of this study in which the association between sex and respondents‟ knowledge was statistically significant, a study from Ontario, Canada (Bardell et al., 2003) and two studies from Pakistan (Maroof et al., 2011; Saleem et al., 2009) respectively showed that knowledge about organ donation was not significantly associated with sex (p=0.88, p=0.06). The statistically significant association that was observed between increasing level of medical education and knowledge is consistent with the findings of studies from Brazil (Lima et al., 2010), Hongkong (Chung, Ng, Li, Sum, Man et al., 2008) and Germany (Schaeffner et al., 2004).