Influence of psychosocial factors in the acceptance of non-human organs in transplants: qualitative research on xenotransplants

Abstract

Considering the current situation in which the number of people waiting for transplants is much larger than the number of organs available for donation, which increases the mortality rate in these queues each year, it is necessary to invest in alternative treatment therapies for these patients. One possibility is to use cells, tissues or organs of other animal species to supply human demand. This practice is known as xenotransplantation, and many resources have been invested in the field of biotechnology to make it available. However, there are still obstacles for this treatment to be effectively implemented. It includes biological rejection, animal ethics and acceptance of target patients, the latter being the focus of this project. Thus, it is necessary to analyze how transplant patients see xenotransplants, considering the psychical and social factors that helped them to build this opinion. It is also necessary to analyze how this therapy would affect these patients, both individually and collectively. Thus, two classes of patients from the Base Hospital of São José do Rio Preto will be selected for the study: patients who have already been transplanted and also those who are in the waiting list for transplants. Patients who agree to participate in the study and sign the informed consent form will be given a questionnaire to approach the psychosocial acception of xenotransplantation. At the end of the fieldwork, data analysis will be done to identify how is the acceptance of the patients of this type of treatment, as well as the individual and collective factors that led them to create their opinions.