Examination of Nursing Students' Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Organ Donation: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract Background Nursing students, who will play a significant role in the healthcare team, need to have the necessary knowledge and a positive attitude towards organ donation to increase the number of organ donations. Because nurses have the power to improve society's perception of organ donation, which could have a positive impact on thousands of lives. Purpose of this study examining the knowledge and attitudes of nursing students regarding organ donation. Methods This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted at the Faculty of Nursing at a university in western Turkey. The study sample comprised 416 nursing students who volunteered to participate and were enrolled in the 1st to 4th grades. The study utilized the students' sociodemographic and descriptive characteristics form, organ-tissue donation and transplantation knowledge scale, and organ donation attitude scale. The study data was gathered via Google Forms. Results In this study, it can be said that nursing students' knowledge about organ donation and transplantation is at an intermediate level and their attitudes towards organ donation are positive. It was determined that as the knowledge of nursing students about organ donation increased, their positive attitudes increased, and their negative attitudes decreased. Conclusions As a result of the study, it was found that increasing knowledge about organ donation increased the positive attitude towards organ donation and decreased the negative attitude. It is recommended that an effective education program should be established to increase the knowledge and attitudes of nursing students towards organ donation.