The Social Representation of Organ Donation in the Romanian Online Environment. A Qualitative Approach
The Social Representation of Organ Donation in the Romanian Online Environment. A Qualitative Approach

Summary/Abstract: In Romania, the organ donation rates are very low in comparison to the number of people that are on the waiting list for a transplant, while the public awareness regarding this social issue is almost inexistent. Therefore, we address the need of exploring the social representation (SR) of organ donation in Romania through a qualitative analysis of the online discussions on public popular forums. The analysis conducted (word associations, comparative analysis, thematic analysis of elementary contexts and cluster analysis) revealed the social representation of organ donation is mainly focused around the idea of “good” and “help” and that the family holds an important but unclear role in the decision making process regarding organ donation. Also, the SR of organ donation includes elements that yield the importance of a flawed medical system or the lay understanding of religious teachings and the way they might alter people’s representation of donation. However, the limited understanding of the matter through qualitative methods renders the need for a more exhaustive research approach in the future.

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