Abstract:
Background: Stem cell transplantation procedure is considered nowadays an important lifesaving therapy for variety of fatal blood diseases. One of the main challenging facing stem cells transplantation therapies is to find a perfect match; that make many national and international organization to work among the people to satisfy the required need of stem cell transplantation. The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge and to identify attitudes and perceptions regarding stem cell donation among Saudi population.
Method: Self-administered questionnaire used with domains on socio-economic, knowledge, and perceptions on stem cell donation. Random selection of the 5 top malls located in Riyadh where sample was equally selected. Result: Findings of this study showed that the knowledge of the people is not enough (46.4%) regarding the stem cell and transplantation. There is a positive relation between the level of education and participant’s knowledge regarding stem cell donation. The study found that 51.6% of male and 48.4% female participants were willing to donate and the most common reason for not donating stem cell was the lack of information about the stem cell and the value of donation.
Conclusion: There is poor knowledge about stem cell donation which urges an importance of the need of marketing on the right knowledge and toward the donation of the stem cells and so more resources should be allocated for public education.
