Evaluation of information on body donation promotion at official websites of Turkish anatomy departments.

Abstract

Raising public awareness of body donation is crucial for countries like Turkey that have struggling donation programs. The official websites of anatomy departments may contribute to achieving this goal. Nevertheless, previous studies reported institutional or individual reluctance of departments or anatomists, respectively, due to an expectation of adverse publicity. This study aimed to investigate whether the official websites of Turkish anatomy departments provided information on body donation and analyzed the content of these websites. Websites of anatomy departments at 100 medical faculties were evaluated. Only 12 departments (12%) provided information on body donation with varying content. A thematic analysis of the information provided revealed five main themes. These were (1) legal aspects, (2) significance, (3) acceptance/rejection criteria, (4) availability, and (5) redirection. All departments (n = 12, 100%) outlined the legal aspects of body donation, seven departments (58%) highlighted the significance of body donation, seven departments (58%) provided contact information for potential donors, five departments (41%) covered acceptance/rejection criteria, and three departments (25%) provided a link to the official website of the Turkish Society of Anatomy and Clinical Anatomy. Thus, Turkish anatomy departments were reluctant to provide information on body donation, and the content of provided information varied greatly among departments. This lack of information, coordination, and participation in existing awareness activities for body donation in anatomy department websites may be contributing to the low numbers of body donations and donor registrations seen nationally.