New
England College of Nursing
The
Impact of Anonymity on Sperm Donation
May
15, 2009
I
Anonymity in organ donation can
have an impact. Anonymity has two directions – the anonymity of the donor and
anonymity of the recipient. In a research study about the anonymity of organ
recipients, it was found that when a group of students had information about
the recipient such as marital status, age, gender, it increased the likelihood
of donating an organ or agreeing to donate a loved one’s organ. When no information was given and the
recipients remained completely anonymous, the likelihood of donating an organ
was much lower. The authors wrote “Extrapolating from research on altruistic
behavior that postulates helping others is motivated by empathic concern for
the victim (Darley and Batson, 1973) and by escape from personal distress
associated with perceived suffering (Schaller and Cialdini, 1988), the authors
hypothesized that the provision of personalized information about people who
are in urgent need of an organ transplant would increase the viewer’s
willingness to donate a next-of-kin’s organs and become an organ donor
themselves. They also expected that the participants in both groups would
become more knowledgeable about organ transplantation and more positive in
their attitudes about donating organs after viewing the videotaped presentation
(on the organ recipients)” (Singh et al, 2002).
