Sykehuspasienters holdninger til å gi biologisk overskuddsmateriale til forskning

Abstract

Background: Every day a vast number of biological samples are taken from hospitalized patients for diagnostic and therapeutic reasons. However, biological material is also of interest to research, as it can be used to improve diagnostics, therapeutic and prevention of disease. The authors aim was to; 1. Investigate hospital patients’ attitudes to provide biological excess material to medical research. 2. Examine whether these attitudes could be influenced by receiving information. Methods: The participants in this case study had been hospitalized in 2013-2015 and were over 18 years old. They were randomly allocated to one of two groups, to receive one of two questionnaires with similar questions, but such that one of the questionnaires also contained information about research on biological material. A total of 438 letters were sent. Results: A total of 117 persons responded to the questionnaire (answer percent at 27 %). The answers showed that: 1. The vast majority of the respondents understood the value of biological material in medical research, and they wanted to contribute since the result of the research might help their family and others when they get sick. They generally do not want to set restrictions on the use of the biological samples. 2. The attitude was not significantly influenced by receiving information. In addition to these findings, there were two other interesting findings: • Even though the majority of the respondents had a positive attitude to giving biological material, they were divided in their opinion on consent. Some wanted information about every project and needed control, while others needed less information. • As opposed to previous research, the respondents’ attitude were the same regardless of demographic and social background. Conclusion: Like others nationalities previously studied, Norwegian hospital patients are well informed and generally positive to research, being eager to let their biological samples be used for the advancement of medicine. More investigations are warranted in order to reveal the details of the picture.