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Latest News
II&M successfully attended the ISNA convention and had engaging discussions from the 1st to the 4th of September.
Announcing Final Cohort: 'Introduction to the Field of Islamic Bioethics' Course Starts in September! Enjoy 50% off using the 'BIOETHICS50' Code.
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Informing American Muslims about Living Organ Donation

Overview

Many studies note that Muslims share health beliefs, values, and experiences that impact healthcare behaviors across ethnic and racial lines. In addition to sharing a theo-centric framework of health and disease, many Muslims look to Islamic ethico-legal guidelines to decide which medical treatments and procedures are permissible.

There is a difference of opinion within Islamic law and among Muslim scholars on the permissibility of organ donation contributing to knowledge gaps within Muslim communities. Our project began by seeking to define these knowledge gaps aiding in the design religiously-tailored, peer-led group education workshops conducted in mosques.

Organ donation and end-of-life care attitudes are impacted by biomedical and religious knowledge gaps. This project aimed to deliver and test the effectiveness of religiously-tailored, mosque-based educational workshops that discuss the biomedical and religious aspects of end-of-life care and living organ donation.

Project Aims

The purpose of developing these workshops was to empower the Muslim community to make informed decisions by:

1
Understanding the Islamic views for organ donation.
2

Muslim community challenges with organ donation.

3

Developing religiously-tailored educational program.

Why Organ Donation?

  • The disparity between supply and demand for life-saving and/or life-sustaining organs is well-known and contributes to over 140 people on the waiting list per week dying in the United States (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013).The situation for ethnic and racial minorities is even more dire as, not only do biological factors make finding appropriate matches more difficult, organ donors rarely come from such backgrounds (Health Resources and Services Administration).

2017 Organ Donors and Wait-list Recipients Ethnic Breakdown

*Note: there is no specific data on Muslims overall, nor on South Asians and Arabs (Arabs are classified as white in most organ donation research). To view national data reports on waiting lists and donation rates, click HERE.

What Are American Muslim Attitudes Towards Organ Donation?

  • American Muslim attitudes towards organ donation are more negative compared to the general US population which has a > 95% support rate. The gaps can be contributed towards lack of religious and biomedical knowledge to make informed decisions regarding organ donation.

Findings from Community based surveys in Michigan and Chicago

Why End-of-Life Care?

Organ donation and end-of-life care attitudes are impacted by biomedical and religious knowledge gaps. This project aimed to deliver and test the effectiveness of religiously-tailored, mosque-based educational workshops that discuss the biomedical and religious aspects of end-of-life care and living organ donation.

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    Disseminated Products

    Introduction to Islamic Bioethical Discourse

    Living Organ Donation
    Dr. Milda Saunders
    University of Chicago
    Muslim Debates
    Dr. Elham Mireshghi
    University of Chicago
    Deceased Organ Donation
    Dr. Rafaqat Rashid

    AlBalagh Academy

    Dr. Talia Baker
    University of Chicago
    Dr. Rosie Duivenbode
    University of Chicago
    Dr. Aasim I. Padela

    AlBalagh Academy

    Dr. Aasim I. Padela
    University of Chicago
    Shaykh Amin Kholwadia, Darul Qasim and Shaykh Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Islamic Society of

    Milwaukee

    Shaykh Amin Kholwadia, Darul Qasim and Dr. Rafaqat Rashid,

    AlBalagh Academy

    Gallery

    Meet The Project Team

    Supported by:

    • Mahsin Habib

    • Muhammad Nabeel Hasan

    • Kamran Husain

    • Mohammad Khalid

    • Sabih Uddin

    • Fauzia Lodhib

    • Saulat Pervez

    • Tareq Abedin

    • Mohammad Yahya Alvi

    • Abdul Rahman Wajid

    • Jaseem Anwer

    • Naeem Baig

    • Fawzia Fazily

    • Irfan Galaria

    • Rafiq Rakhangi

    • Latif A. Rasheed

    • Irfan Shaikh

    • Neima Surur

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    Mufti Nazim Khutbah

    Padela Khutbah

    Shkifah Khutbah

    Intervention Study

    Qualitative Study and Interviews

    Fifty Muslim multiethnicity women (40 years old and above) were interviewed (6 focused group) and 19 in individual interviews. We found religious beliefs did informed mammography intention, which includes (1) the perceived religious duty to care for one’s health, (2) religious practices as methods of disease prevention, (3) fatalistic notions about health, and (4) comfort with gender concordant health care.

    Quantitative Study and survey

    240, 40 years of age or older, were surveyed (72 respondents were Arab, 71 South Asian, 59 African American, and 38 from another ethnicity). We found that positive religious coping and perceived religious discrimination in health settings significantly (negatively) affected mammogram adherence among Muslim women in Chicago.

    American Cancer Society mammogram recommendations

    Mammogram recommendation for women at average risk or breast cancer

    • Women between 40 and 44 have a choice to have a mammography every year.
    • Women 45 to 54 should get mammograms every year.
    • Women 55 and older can switch to a mammogram every other year, or they can choose to continue yearly mammograms.

    3R model

    Reframing “switch train tracks”
    • Keep the barriers belief intact but change the way one thinks about it so it is consonant with the desired health behavior
    • Normalizes the barrier belief
    Reprioritize: “show them a better train”
    • Introduce a new belief and create higher valence for it than the barrier belief
    • Normalization of the barrier belief is optional
    Reform: “breakdown the train carriage”
    • Negate the barrier belief by demonstrating its faults by appealing to authority structures

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