Investigation of the relationship between levels of health literacy of individuals and attitudes towards tissue/organ donation

Data on tissue/organ donation, such as expected life expectancy at birth, birth and death rates, etc., inform us about the development levels of countries. Millions of people living on Earth have problems maintaining their lives healthy due to tissue/organ insufficiency, and in this way, people with chronic health problems can return to normal and regain their health tissue/tissue/the necessity of organ transplantation is a known fact. There are two ways to do tissue/organ transplantation. The first of these is the presence of a live donor or the donation of cadaveric tissue/organ, which has been diagnosed with brain death. The purpose of tissue/organ donation is to ensure that the body integrity is maintained for the right to life, known as the most natural right of the individual, and to provide the opportunity to live a better quality life. The tissue/organ shortage at this point remains the biggest challenge in organ transplantation worldwide. In its simplest form, there is a great incompatibility between organ transplantation and tissue/organ supply that needs to be done to meet the needs of patients on the waiting list. The consent of the deceased's family or the decisions that the person makes while alive affect the size of the donor pool. Some of the reasons why people refuse to donate organs are cultural and religious concerns, lack of knowledge, lack of awareness of medical procedures, lack of understanding of terminology related to organ transplantation. Health literacy is used to help individuals make informed decisions about their health. The good level of health literacy of individuals will allow the reasons for rejecting organ donation to be eliminated. Health literacy enables access to information, a better understanding of information and the expected attitude. In this respect, the concept of tissue/organ donation and the concept of health literacy can be in a relationship. In this study, the relationship between the health literacy levels of individuals and their attitudes towards tissue/organ donation is examined. The universe of the study is composed of individuals 18 years of age and older who live in Isparta provincial center. The research reached 557 participants with easy sample method. The Health Literacy Scale-Short Form and Organ Donation Attitude Scale were used as data collection tools in the research. The relationship between health literacy levels and tissue/organ donation attitudes has been studied through correlation analysis. According to the results of the research, it has been revealed that there is a relationship between health literacy and the sub-dimensions of organ donation attitudes exhibited by individuals. When the relationship between organ donation attitudes and health literacy level is examined; as the level of health literacy of individuals increases, the values of benevolence increase, the fears of medical neglect and physical injury decrease and the value of benevolence, the value of, it was found that the fear of physical injury is more affected than the fear of medical neglect. In addition, it was seen that the organ donation attitude levels of the participants who received prior information about organ donation and who had relatives who had donated organs were higher than those of other participants. In addition, it was seen that the fear of physical injury increased and the fear of medical neglect increased and negatively affected the organ donation attitude.