Organ donation: A study of its representations among organ procurement coordinators and their staff

Making the life-saving treatment of transplantation available to patients who need it re-quires the cooperation of individuals and families who decide to donate organs. Healthcare workers navigate organizational, bureaucratic and relational aspects of this process, including cases in which a deceased individual has not specified a wish about organ donation and their surviving family members must be asked for consent to donate during a delicate phase of mourning. This research aims to understand the experience of these health workers regarding their work. We collected 18 interviews from organ donation healthcare workers in five of the major hospitals in Rome. The transcripts underwent a multivariate text analysis to identify the repre-sentations of organ donation and the symbolic categories organizing the practice of these workers. This research elucidated a symbolic space constructed of four factors: the "Context", in-volving family and health workers; the "Work purposes", including the procedures and the relationships; the "Transplant", which involves omnipotence and limits; the "Donation", which involves ideals versus reality. The characterizing elements of these representations, belonging to organ donation work-ers, are the prestige, the certification of brain death, the communication, the transplant, and the salvation. In the lives of these workers, to be a "bridge between life and death2 evokes feelings of prestige rather than difficult feelings associated with confronting one’s limitations. These aspects concern the difficulties met by the health staff in their work, and they are useful ele-ments to design a focused training and support program for organ donor workers.

Keywords: organ donation, organ procurement coordinators, Emotional Text Mining, text analysis

• Self-care in children and young people with complex chronic conditions: a qualitative study using Emotional Text Mining Giuseppina Spitaletta, Valentina Biagioli, Francesca Greco, Rachele Mascolo, Annachiara Liburdi, Giulia Manzi, Orsola Gawronski, Riccardo Ricci, Emanuela Tiozzo, Ercole Vellone, Teresa Grimaldi Capitello, Michele Salata, Massimiliano Raponi, Immacolata Dall’Oglio, in Frontiers in Pediatrics 1170268/2023
  DOI: 10.3389/fped.2023.1170268
• New Frontiers in Textual Data Analysis Silvia Monaco, Anna Cortellino, Michela Di Trani, pp.285 (ISBN:978-3-031-55916-7)
• Using Emotional Text Mining to Explore the Cultural Representation of Organ Donation in Spanish and Italian Culture Silvia Monaco, Anna Cortellino, Maria Giovanna Massari, Michela Di Trani, Francesca Greco, in Culture & Psychology /2025 pp.259
  DOI: 10.1177/1354067X231172909
• New Frontiers in Textual Data Analysis Stefania Capogna, Maria Chiara De Angelis, Francesca Greco, pp.299 (ISBN:978-3-031-55916-7)
• The Relationship between Physiotherapist and Patient: A Qualitative Study on Physiotherapists’ Representations on This Theme Silvia Monaco, Alessia Renzi, Beatrice Galluzzi, Rachele Mariani, Michela Di Trani, in Healthcare /2022 pp.2123
  DOI: 10.3390/healthcare10112123
• The cultural representations and symbolizations emerging from Italian psychologists working in multidisciplinary assisted reproduction teams: A linguistic analysis with the emotional text mining Michela Di Trani, Roberta Spoletini, Alessia Renzi, Silvia Monaco, Fabiola Fedele, Giulia Scaravelli, in Journal of Health Psychology /2025 pp.528
  DOI: 10.1177/13591053241251528
• Organ Procurement Organization Donation Requestors Describe Barriers to Pediatric Organ Donation Gretchen B. Chapman, Mandy Lanyon, Justin Godown, Daniel J. Lebovitz, in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine /2025 pp.e773
  DOI: 10.1097/PCC.0000000000003742

Silvia Monaco, Francesca Greco, Barbara Cordella, Michela Di Trani, Organ donation: A study of its representations among organ procurement coordinators and their staff in "PSICOLOGIA DELLA SALUTE" 3/2021, pp 125-142, DOI: 10.3280/PDS2021-003014