Knowledge and Attitudes of Faculty of Health Sciences Students towards Hematopoietic Stem Cell Donation

Abstract

Background: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is a life-saving treatment method for numerous diseases. This study aims to determine the knowledge and attitudes of Faculty of Health Sciences students in a university towards hematopoietic stem cell donation and descriptive cross-sectional design.

Materials and Methods:  The study participants consisted of students studying at the Faculty of Health Sciences of a university in western Turkey. A total of 345 students were available to complete a survey. The data were collected online through the Google Form. Data were analyzed using the SPSS 25 program (IBM Corp.; Armonk, NY, USA). Moreover, the Chi-square test, independent samples t-test, and one-way ANOVA were used in this study.

Results:  25.2% were registered at "The Turkish Stem Cell Coordination Center", and 89.1% of the unregistered ones wanted to be a stem cell donor. The university students had a moderate level of knowledge about stem cell donation. While the participants were more knowledgeable about stem cell collection with the peripheral method, they had poor knowledge of stem cell collection methods from the bone marrow and stem cell donation processes. There was a significant correlation between the students' level of knowledge about hematopoietic stem cell donation and their university year, occupation, age, graduate school, and parents' educational level (p<0.05).

Conclusion:  In this study, it was found that the university students had insufficient knowledge on hematopoietic stem cell donation and their intention to donate stem cells was high.  Holding training sessions, seminars, and conferences for university students as future health professionals to raise their awareness of stem cell donation is recommended.  The fact that new-generation health professionals are sensitive and educated about stem cell donation can contribute to increasing stem cell donations in society.