Established within the context of a severe shortage of organs and tissues for transplantation, this thesis explores whether presumed consent for cadaveric organ donation is a legitimate policy choice for Ontario. The medical, legal and social reasons underlying organ scarcity and increased demand for transplantation are examined, and the shortcomings of Ontario’s current express consent system are analyzed. The various criticisms of presumed consent are also explored, including concerns with respect to its effectiveness, level of public support and implications for personal autonomy. Although the Citizens Panel on Increasing Organ Donations recommended against enacting presumed consent legislation, it is argued that the Panel was too dismissive of this concept given a perceived lack of public support. It is concluded that presumed consent can meet the concerns of critics, and that as part of a broader strategy could significantly increase the number of cadaveric organ and tissue donors in the province.

Non-profit organizations participating in social activities becomes more and more important, and NPOs compensate for the deviations and inadequate matters that the public sector and private sector are unable to provide. Therefore, whether in education and culture, arts, social welfare or community construction, NPOs will give assistance, and promote the development of civil society. However, some well-known NPOs have been created many scandals. The low operational efficiency and disadvantages of behaviors hit the public trust from the general public. Thus, this study explore whether the donors¡¦ approval of accountability would affect their donation willingness to NPOs. The study collected paper questionnaires 168 and 164 online questionnaires (a total of 308 valid questionnaires). The purposes of this study are: first, to explore the differences about the donors¡¦ demographic variables to the donors¡¦ approval of accountability . Second, to explore the correlation between the donors¡¦ approval of accountability and donation willingness. Third, to provide specific recommendations about the future direction of sustainable development to NPOs. The empirical results show : First, in the demographic variables, the donors¡¦ contribution purposes and education to the approval of accountability are significant different. Second, the correlation between the donors¡¦ approval of accountability and donation willingness is significantly positive. Third, the accountability acts of legal norms, performance evaluation, citizen participation, information disclosure and organizational goals are all significantly correlated to donation willingness. Compared with each dimension, ¡§information disclosure¡¨ is the most significantly correlated. Then, the study makes the following recommendations: First, continuingly accountable, in order to maintain the sustainability of NPOs. Second, maintain the transparency of the operation, and promote the self-discipline. Third, put different marketing plan to different donors. Forth, keep the spirit of the NPOs¡¦ principle and provide services that meet the current needs of the community.

When donating to a charity there is an implied assumption that a proportion of the donation will be used to support the administration functions of the charity. The present study investigated whether it was possible to obtain direct donor support for the administration function of a charity. A ‘donation splitting’ technique was used, whereby participants could split a donation into a proportion that the charity could use for administration, and a proportion that could be used to deliver the charity’s programmes and services. Two experiments were conducted using an on-line format. All participants were reimbursed $5 for participating, and this money was made available for the participants to donate with. The primary aim of Experiment 1 was to determine whether participants were willing to allocate a proportion of their donation directly to the administration function of the charity. Sixty-two students from the University of Canterbury participated in Experiment 1, with 37 participants making a donation to the charity. Results from Experiment 1 confirmed that it was possible to obtain direct donor support for administration. Experiment 2 aimed to replicate this finding, and to examine the influence that providing information about the charity’s administration expenditure had on the donation split. Sixty students from the University of Canterbury participated in Experiment 2, with 38 making a donation to the charity. Results from Experiment 2 replicated those of Experiment 1, and indicated that it may be beneficial for a charity to provide donors with information about the nature of their administration expenditure, but this information should be kept to a minimum. The donation splitting approach gives the donor an element of control over how their money is used, as well as providing the charity with valuable information to guide administration spending. Results are discussed in terms of how the donation splitting approach can help generate and maintain the public’s trust in a charity.

Thesis (M Nursing (Advanced Practice))--University of South Australia, 1996

Thesis (M. P. H.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007.

Thesis (M. P. H.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Also available in print.

Introduction: Transfusion of blood products, especially red blood cells (RBC) is the most common medical intervention administered in North-American hospitals. The indications for transfusion are diverse but they largely aim at increasing oxygen delivery to tissues to improve patient clinical outcomes. Transfusion can also have deleterious effects. In fact, there is evidence that RBC transfusion may be ineffective, or even harmful in some populations where its use should in theory be beneficial. Seeking explanations for the beneficial and deleterious effects of red blood cell transfusions is necessary. The primary objective of this research is to investigate the associations between donor characteristics and RBC transfusion recipient outcomes. Methods: My thesis consists of a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature regarding the association between blood donor characteristics and outcomes of the recipient, and the development of a framework linking the donor-recipient continuum using data collected from blood donors by Canadian Blood Services and clinical outcome data from large hospital and provincial clinical-administrative databases. Based on the framework, an epidemiological analysis was conducted to assess the effect of donor sex, age and ABO-Rh mismatch on RBC recipient outcomes. Results: Our systematic review found 58 studies evaluating 17 different donor characteristics. Five studies evaluated donor age as a risk factor for RBC transfusion outcome and 17 studies evaluated donor sex. We successfully developed an analytical framework allowing for a robust analysis of the impact of donor characteristics on RBC recipient outcomes that included 30,503 RBC recipients, 80,755 blood donors and a total of 187,960 transfusion episodes. We found that young age and female sex are donor characteristics significantly associated with adverse outcomes after RBC transfusion. Our newly developed framework, as well as our epidemiological findings, have the potential to influence future research in transfusion medicine and transfusion practices.

This thesis investigates the voluntary provision of public goods in three distinct contexts. Specifically, it studies gifts of blood, money and time. While the first essay undertakes to investigate the behaviour of blood donors from a theoretical perspective, the second and third chapter use the tools of empirical applied microeconomics to investigate strategic philanthropy (Chapter 2) and the impact of mandatory volunteering on income (Chapter 3). In Chapter One I use the tools of non-cooperative game theory to study blood donor behaviour. I construct a model in which the decision to donate blood is driven by the need for consumers to obtain insurance against needing a blood transfusion, and in which access to the resources of the blood bank are allocated as under a first-come, first-served policy. I also study the effect of screening policies on the available blood supply, and identify policy instruments which may be effective in increasing the supply of blood. Strikingly, although blood banks typically direct greater effort to persuading universal donors (type O negative) to donate blood, I show that the efficient allocation is for individuals of each blood type to donate the same amount of blood. However, at the Nash equilibrium, the individuals who are the most likely to donate blood are universal recipients, and those who are the least likely are universal donors -- a prediction that is consistent with observed donation frequency by blood type. The model also predicts that if there is an increase in the probability of needing blood, this will have no impact on donations of those individuals who are faced with a positive probability of not getting blood. I also show that in an economy with "good" blood and "bad" blood donors, if the total amount of bad blood is more than the total amount of good blood, bad blood crowds out good blood. The second chapter is concerned with giving practices that practitioners refer to as strategic philanthropy. Anecdotal evidence that suggests that charitable givers -- particularly those with the financial means and inclination to make substantial donations - are increasingly strategic in their philanthropic behaviour. However, there is no existing literature which has investigated whether or not so-called strategic givers are in fact determining donations differently from other donors, or whether in fact it is true that strategic behaviour is increasingly prevalent. A first challenge is to discern what specifically might constitute strategic giving, and I propose that strategic philanthropists are individuals who (i) plan their giving; (ii) give most of their philanthropic gifts to a small number of charities, and (iii) get involved in the organisations to which they make gifts. Different estimation methods are applied, and the results show that some charitable givers are strategic in their philanthropic giving, and that the propensity to be strategic is highly and positively correlated with the level of education. My results also show that giving is strategic only when donations are made to secular organisations but not to religious organisations. My results also indicate that strategic behaviour has a substantial positive impact on donations to secular organisations. The last chapter examines the link between volunteering and income, focussing particularly on the impact of mandatory volunteering in high school. I use data from the 2013 Giving, Volunteering and Participation component of the General Social Survy (GSS GVP) to update previous research on the labour market returns to volunteering and find evidence, consistent with previous findings that indivuals who choose to volunteer earn higher incomes. In contrast, when volunteering is mandated for high school students, the impact on income depends on the type of policy and on the time horizon. When the policy requires students to perform free community service, it has no impact on income in the short run but generates a positive return in the long run. In contrast, when the policy requires students to acquire either paid or unpaid work experience, it leads to lower incomes in the short run but has a positive impact in the long run. There are three channels by which it has been suggested that volunteering leads to high labor market returns: human capital accumulation, strengthening of social networks, and signalling high productivity. The results suggest that when volunteering activities are mandated, this breaks the signal to potential employers. However, mandatory volunteering still leads to human capital accumulation and strengthens social networks, and consequently ultimately generates a positive return. Overall, requiring high school students to undertake free community service yields a better labour market outcome in the short run than the mandated work experience policy.

No description available.

This study examined mothers who have undergone gamete donation treatment and lack a genetic connection to their adolescent children. The study examined the mothers experience of closeness and similarity with their child, as well as their feelings regarding the child's ability to seek information and contact the donor. Experiences regarding talking to the child and others, as well as their potential desire for support were explored. The study is based on data from the longitudinal study Swedish Study of Gamete Donations (SSGD), which has collected data in five rounds since 2005. Using a mixed-methods design the current study compared egg donation mothers in heterosexual couples (n=41) and non-carrying mothers in lesbian couples (n=59). Participants responded to surveys containing rating scales and free text responses. The material was analyzed using chi2-, Mann-Whitney U-, and t-tests, as well as qualitative content analysis. The majority in both groups reported high levels of closeness to their children and more often perceived similarity in personality than appearance. Participants primarily reported positive emotions related to their child’s ability to access information about and contact the donor. There were no statistically significant differences between the groups. Some qualitative differences emerged regarding feelings about discussing the donation. A few mothers from both groups expressed a need for support. The study contributes to a broader understanding of mothers who have undergone gamete donation treatment and how interventions for these mothers can be devised. Additionally, the study confirms that these groups generally have close relationships with their children. / Studien har undersökt mammor som genomgått donationsbehandling och inte har genetisk koppling till sitt, idag tonåriga, barn. Studien undersökte mammornas upplevelse av närhet och likhet med sitt barn samt vilka känslor de har inför barnets möjlighet att söka information och ta kontakt med donatorn. Även upplevelser kring att prata med barnet och andra om donationen samt vilket eventuellt stöd mammorna önskar undersöktes. Studien bygger på data från den longitudinella studien Swedish Study of Gamete Donations (SSGD) som samlat in data i fem omgångar sedan 2005. Studien använde en mixad design för att jämföra grupperna äggdonations-mammor i heterosexuella par (n=41) och icke-bärande mammor i lesbiska par (n=59). Deltagarna har besvarat enkäter som innehöll skattningsskalor och öppna frågor. Materialet analyserades genom chi2-, Mann-Whitney U-, och t-test samt kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Majoriteten i båda grupperna upplevde hög nivå av närhet till sina barn och upplevde oftare likhet i personlighet än utseende. Deltagarna rapporterade primärt positiva känslor relaterade till barnens möjlighet till information om och kontakt med donatorn. Det fanns inga statistiskt signifikanta skillnader mellan grupperna. Dock fanns vissa kvalitativa skillnader gällande känslor och motivation till att prata om donationen. Ett fåtal mammor ur båda grupperna efterfrågade stöd. Studien bidrar till en bredare förståelse för mammor som genomgått donationsbehandling och hur insatser för dessa kan utformas samt bekräftar att dessa grupper generellt har nära relationer till sina barn.