Aspectos Psicossociais do Transplante de Órgãos

Abstract

The organ transplantation process is complex, encompassing heated arguments. This qualitative research was dedicated to the study of psychosocial aspects of the problem which included donors´ relatives, staff that deals directly with the transplant events and general public. The family and team interviews were made through semi-structured form. With the general public a questionnaire was filled out by the participant himself. Thus, the population of this research was composed by 10 family members, 11 team members and 216 people from the general population. Previously, 55 persons refused to answer questions about transplant. A survey was also carried out in Spain on the policies adopted in relation to the transplantation/donation process. The results of the present work showed that the families who authorized the donation, despite suffering caused by the death of a loved one, did so in order to help out her people. The motives for donation as responded by the relatives was to save the life and to give aid in a wide sense of the word. These motivations are clearly altruistic. Family members who authorized the transplant were over 30 years old, belonging to the social strata with lower income. The staff involved does a good job, respecting the moment of pain of the donor's family. Nevertheless, a trained psychologist is needed to deal with these tasks professionally. The questionnaires filled by all participants showed that in Brazil, and in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, in particular, the knowledge and comprehension of general population is still rather confuse and limited. The eventual refusal to authorize donation was due to the lack of adequate knowledge about the brain death as well as the fear existing as for the mutilation of the body. So more campaigns at varying levels are needed to educate the population regarding the importance of organ donation. In this respect, Spain is an example of the effectiveness of such a process that should be recommended for implantation in our country.