Overview
Many studies note that Muslims share health beliefs, values, and experiences that impact healthcare behaviors across ethnic and racial lines. In addition to sharing a theo-centric framework of health and disease, many Muslims look to Islamic ethico-legal guidelines to decide which medical treatments and procedures are permissible.
There is a difference of opinion within Islamic law and among Muslim scholars on the permissibility of organ donation contributing to knowledge gaps within Muslim communities. Our project began by seeking to define these knowledge gaps aiding in the design religiously-tailored, peer-led group education workshops conducted in mosques.
Organ donation and end-of-life care attitudes are impacted by biomedical and religious knowledge gaps. This project aimed to deliver and test the effectiveness of religiously-tailored, mosque-based educational workshops that discuss the biomedical and religious aspects of end-of-life care and living organ donation.
Project Aims
The purpose of developing these workshops was to empower the Muslim community to make informed decisions by:
Muslim community challenges with organ donation.
Developing religiously-tailored educational program.
Why Organ Donation?
- The disparity between supply and demand for life-saving and/or life-sustaining organs is well-known and contributes to over 140 people on the waiting list per week dying in the United States (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013).The situation for ethnic and racial minorities is even more dire as, not only do biological factors make finding appropriate matches more difficult, organ donors rarely come from such backgrounds (Health Resources and Services Administration).
2017 Organ Donors and Wait-list Recipients Ethnic Breakdown
*Note: there is no specific data on Muslims overall, nor on South Asians and Arabs (Arabs are classified as white in most organ donation research). To view national data reports on waiting lists and donation rates, click HERE.
What Are American Muslim Attitudes Towards Organ Donation?
- American Muslim attitudes towards organ donation are more negative compared to the general US population which has a > 95% support rate. The gaps can be contributed towards lack of religious and biomedical knowledge to make informed decisions regarding organ donation.
Findings from Community based surveys in Michigan and Chicago
Why End-of-Life Care?
Organ donation and end-of-life care attitudes are impacted by biomedical and religious knowledge gaps. This project aimed to deliver and test the effectiveness of religiously-tailored, mosque-based educational workshops that discuss the biomedical and religious aspects of end-of-life care and living organ donation.
Academic Papers
- 1. A Randomized Controlled Cross-Over Trial Evaluating the Effect of Religiously- Tailored Health Education. 06-Aug-2019.
- 2. The Ethics of Organ Donation After Circulatory Determination of Death and Xenotransplantation from an Islamic. 03 May 2018.
- 3. Factors Associated with Positive Attitudes Towards Organ Donation in Arab Americans. 03 May 2018.
- 4. Relationships between Islamic religiosity and attitude toward deceased organ donation among American Muslims: a pilot study.
- 5. American Muslim Physician Attitudes Toward Organ Donation.
- 6. A Mosque-Based Qualitative Study on American Muslim Women’s Organ Donation Beliefs Rosie Duivenbode, MD, MSc, Stephen Hall, MPH, January 3, 2020.
- 7. Informing American Muslims about living donation through tailored health education: A randomized controlled crossover trial evaluating increase in biomedical and religious knowledge. 21 July 2020.
- 8. The Development and Validation of the Islamic Knowledge of Living Organ Donation Knowledge Scale for Measuring Organ Donation Knowledge Among Muslim Communities. September 10, 2020.
- 9. The Impact of Religiously‐Tailored and Ethically‐Balanced Education on Intention for Living Organ Donation among Muslim Americans. 16 October 2020.
- 10. Muslims, Islam, and Organ Donation: Righting Social Narratives and Designing Ethically Balanced Educational Interventions. 14 November 2022.
- 11. Increasing Solid Organ Donation: A Role for Emergency Physicians. 08-November-2022.
Op-Eds
- Perspectives on Organ Donation and Transplantation Practical steps to moving forward in light of the latest legal opinion, ISLAMIC HORIZONS, OCTOBER 2019.
- Helping Those You Know: The possibilities of deceased directed donation, ISLAMIC HORIZONS, DECEMBER 2019.
- Muslim American Views on Organ Donation, OCTOBER 2020, OCTOBER 2020.
PowerPoint Presentations
Conference Presentations
- Developing Religiously-Tailored Health Education to Inform American Muslims about Organ Donation. September 17, 2019.
- American Muslim Attitudes Towards Common Fertility Treatment Options: A Mosque-Based Cross Sectional Study. The University of Chicago Gordon Center for Integrative Sciences, October 18-20, 2019.
- Working with Muslim Patients. Fall 2023.
- Bringing Theory to Community Education: Faith, Muslims, and Living Organ Donation, September 17th 2020
Publications
- Developing Religiously-Tailored Health Education to Inform American Muslims about Organ Donation. The Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation Conference. September 19, 2019, Charleston, South Carolina.
- American Muslim Attitudes Towards Common Fertility Treatment Options: A Mosque-Based Cross Sectional Study. Advancing Muslim American Health Priorities Conference. October 19,2019. Chicago,Illinois.
- Working with Muslim Patients. Interdisciplinary Nephrology Conference hosted by the National Kidney Foundation. October 29, 2019, Oak Brook, Illinois.
- Bringing Theory to Community Education: Faith, Muslims, and Living Organ Donation. Living Donation Week 2020 hosted by the UHN Centre For Living Donation. September 17, 2020. Remote.
Tool Kits
Dissemination Products
Introduction to Islamic Bioethical Discourse
Living Organ Donation
Dr. Milda Saunders
Muslim Debates
Dr. Elham Mireshghi
Deceased Organ Donation
Dr. Rafaqat Rashid
AlBalagh Academy
Dr. Talia Baker
Dr. Rosie Duivenbode
Dr. Aasim I. Padela
AlBalagh Academy
Dr. Aasim I. Padela
Shaykh Amin Kholwadia, Darul Qasim and Shaykh Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Islamic Society of
Milwaukee
Shaykh Amin Kholwadia, Darul Qasim and Dr. Rafaqat Rashid,
AlBalagh Academy
Gallery
Meet The Project Team
Supported by:
Mahsin Habib
Muhammad Nabeel Hasan
Kamran Husain
Mohammad Khalid
Sabih Uddin
Fauzia Lodhib
Saulat Pervez
Tareq Abedin
Mohammad Yahya Alvi
Abdul Rahman Wajid
Jaseem Anwer
Naeem Baig
Fawzia Fazily
Irfan Galaria
Rafiq Rakhangi
Latif A. Rasheed
Irfan Shaikh
Neima Surur