Eric Venbrux

Motivation for body donation to science: More than an altruistic act

BACKGROUND In recent years the Netherlands has witnessed a steep increase in the number of bodies donated for medical research and training. To explore this upward trend and motives for donation, a survey was conducted among registered body donors in the database of the Department of Anatomy at the University Medical Center of Groningen (UMCG). METHODS In November 2008, postal questionnaires were sent to 996 people enrolled at the UMCG body donor database. The present study focuses on motives for donation and social background characteristics of the body donors. FINDINGS Registered donors responded quickly and the survey response rate was high (76%). The mean age of respondents was 69 years and the majority described themselves as Dutch (98%) and non-church affiliated (79%). One quarter (25%) of the respondents are/were health care professionals and 11% involved in education. Principal factor analysis revealed three dimensions underlying ten different motivations for body donation: a desire to be useful after death, a negative attitude towards funerals and expression of gratitude. Despite the current economic recession only 8% of respondents are prompted by money motives to bequeath their bodies. CONCLUSIONS The majority of motives for body donation stem from the wish to be useful after death. However, the present survey suggests that body donation is more than an altruistic act; people are also motivated by personal benefit. Results of our survey contradict the notion that body donation stems from loneliness. Many donors have a supportive social network and meaningful social relationships. People moreover propagate body donation within their social networks.

Anatomist on the dissecting table? Dutch anatomical professionals' views on body donation

Anatomical professionals know better than anyone else that donated bodies are a valuable asset to anatomical science and medical education. They highly value voluntary donations, since a dearth of bodies negatively affects their profession. With this in mind, we conducted a survey (n = 54) at the 171st scientific meeting of the Dutch Anatomical Society in 2009 to see to what extent anatomical professionals are willing to donate their own body. The results reveal that none of the survey participants are registered as a whole body donor and that only a quarter of them would consider the possibility of body donation. We argue that the two main constraints preventing Dutch anatomical professionals from donating their own body are their professional and their social environments. In contrast to the absence of registered body donors, half of the anatomical professionals are registered as an organ donor. This figure far exceeds the proportion of registered organ donors among the general Dutch population. Clin. Anat. 25:168–175, 2012.

Personality and motivation for body donation

BACKGROUND This study examines the relationship between motivation for body donation to science and personality characteristics using a body donor survey (N=759) conducted by the University Medical Centre Groningen (UMCG) in The Netherlands. The survey expands on anthropological studies that suggest an association between donor motivation and personality. METHODS A structural equation model was used to investigate the relationship between personality and motivation for body donation. FINDINGS The results show that, compared to society at large, body donors have a similar spectrum of personality characteristics. However, we found statistically significant positive relationships between donor motivation and Big Five personality traits. Together the personality traits explain between 5% and 15% of the variance in motivation for body donation. CONCLUSIONS We argue that donor campaigns should not focus solely on altruistic motives, but should include the aspect of possible personal achievement by the donor. This is a fruitful starting point for approaching potential donors and anticipating their needs.

Meaning Making and Death in a Secular Society: A Dutch Survey Study

This article focuses on the relation between death and religion in a secularized society. In the Netherlands, traditional religious membership has declined significantly together with traditional belief systems. This study investigates the relation between the experience of death and religious affiliation (unaffiliated, Catholic, and Protestant) in relation to meaning making. Parts of a nationwide survey study (n = 1212) are analyzed in order to investigate different forms of meaning making (Christian meaning, personal meaning, and denial of meaning). The results show that the experience of the death of a loved one is related to personal meaning giving only for Protestant participants. Moreover, religiously unaffiliated, Catholics and Protestants differ significantly in different ways of meaning making. In the discussions the authors focus on the different effects of different religious groups in the context of secular society.

Worldview commitment and narrative foreclosure among older Dutch adults: Assessing the importance of grand narratives

ABSTRACT Grand narratives offered by religion and other worldviews provide a background against which people can narrate their personal life stories. Therefore, the extent of commitment older adults experience toward their worldview is expected to influence the narrative openness of their life story. Regression analyses based on a survey study among 356 older Dutch adults demonstrate that reconsideration of the commitment toward their worldview is associated with “narrative foreclosure”: the premature sentiment that their life story is actually over. Moreover, the association we found between age and narrative foreclosure toward the future emphasizes the lack of vital cultural narratives of aging.

Religion and fear of death among older Dutch adults

ABSTRACT A qualitative study based on in-depth interviews with 26 older Dutch participants was performed to elucidate the complex relationship between religion and death anxiety. Whereas participants expressed seven types of lived religion (lacking, lost, liminal, loose, learned, lasting, and liquid religion), only participants with loose or lost religion expressed death anxiety. This supports previous research indicating that moderately religious people fear death more than nonbelievers or highly religious people. Moreover, the naturalness of death, the length of their life span, the death of others, the goodness of life, and the hope to live on in others also provided acceptance of death.

Living pictures, reviving the dead: claiming ritual and identity through posthumous films

This text explores the construction and appreciation of posthumous films—filmed portraits of dead loved ones—in The Netherlands. The authors support the argument that, in this country, posthumous films function both as identity markers for the deceased and the bereaved, and as coping instruments. The study is based on interviews with the maker and commissioners of three posthumous films, and on an analysis of these films. We find posthumous films to be vehicles for bereaved peoples emotions and thoughts that are closely intertwined with their everyday lives; as stimuli reviving peoples memories of the dead; and as powerful media invoking individual agency in mourning.