Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #113000

Eusebio M. Alvaro, PhD, MPH¹, Jason Siegel, PhD¹, Andrew Lac, MA¹, Sara Pace Jones, BA², and William D. Crano, PhD¹. (1) Psychology Department, Claremont Graduate University, 2424 E. Broadway, Suite 200, Tucson, AZ 85719, 520-620-0641, Eusebio.Alvaro@cgu.edu, (2) Donor Network of Arizona, 201 W. Coolidge St., Phoenix, AZ 85013

Worldwide, attitudes toward organ donation are overwhelmingly positive, however, rates of organ donation behavior (i.e. signing a donor card) are disturbingly low. Understanding this mismatch is vital to increasing organ and tissue donations. This study examines the utility of the Theory of Planned Behavior to explore the attitude-behavior relationship in regard to organ donation. The theory posits that behavioral intentions are the direct precursors to behavior and that such intentions can be predicted by one's attitudes, social norms, and behavioral control (perceived self-efficacy). A telephone survey of 868 Arizonans was conducted and the resulting data was analyzed via structural equation modeling. The analysis revealed a number of interesting findings. First, the major indices indicate high model fit and the full model explained 31.5% of the total variance in intention, and 63.3% of the total variance in behavior. Second, attitudes toward organ donation and social norm perceptions significantly predicted organ donation intentions. While behavioral control was unrelated to intentions, it did nonetheless directly predict behavior. In the context of organ donation, behavioral control is a very strong predictor of donation behavior. Given positive attitudes toward donation and seemingly positive intentions, it may be valuable to focus interventions on various aspects of behavioral control. People are in favor of donation and are willing to donate, however, they perceive that the donation process itself is problematic to negotiate. Interventions designed to increase awareness and promote positive beliefs should be abandoned in favor of those focused on overcoming barriers between intentions and actions.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will become familiar with the Theory of Planned Behavior and its utility in examining organ donation behavior
• Participants will learn about the perceived barriers to translating organ donation beliefs into actions.

Keywords: Adult Health, Behavioral Research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.