1994 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
The process of public acceptance of a brain death : A longetudenal study
| Project/Area Number |
04451023
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
Psychology
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| Research Institution | Setsunan University (1993-1994)
Kyoto University (1992) |
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Principal Investigator |
KINOSHITA Tomio Setunann University, Faculty of Business Administration and Information Professor, 経営情報学部, 教授 (10026742)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
杉万 俊夫 京都大学, 総合人間学部, 助教授 (10135642)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1992 – 1994
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| Keywords | brain death / organ transplant / public acceptance / cognition and emotion / public opinion formation / uncertainty of attitude / panel survey |
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| Research Abstract |
One of the most diverged publico pinion in Japan is the attitude toward a brain death and an organ transplant. Even among the medical doctors, the legal professionals, and the religious men, they could't reach agreement on that issue. A brain death is not only the medical problem but the religious and philosophical one.
The purpose of this study was firstly to find the psychological and social variables underlying the attitude toward a brain death, and secondly, how this diverged public opinion converges as time passes by.
The two-wave panel surveys were conducted on the 960 eligible voters who lived in Osaka prefcture by a questionnaire method. The questionnaire included the questions asking the attitude towards scientific technology and nature, life and death, images on a natural death and a brain death, rationalism-emotinalism, confidence to medical doctors, the object of brain death (myself or others), egoism of patients or doctors, the criterion of death, knowlege of a brain death and a vegitable, procedure to get public acceptance, and so on.
The result shows that (1) the cognitive-emotional elements of each individuals were diverged (or ambivalent), which makes public acceptance very difficult, (2) confidence to medical doctors is low, because of the lack of informed consent and their love of fame, (3) when respondents think a brain death as their own situation, they usually don't want to get the organ from other person, while they think it occurs on their loving partner, they want to get the fresh organ from other person without hesitation, which indicates the respondents still waver in their judgment.
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