Currently there is a critical shortage of transplantable organs in the UK. The existing evidence base highlights that cultural and religious norms can hinder familial consent and uptake of registration as an organ donor, particularly within ethnic minority groups. There is a dearth of information relating to the Polish community in the UK. Since the expansion of the European Union and the potential and consequent economic migration of Poles to the UK, this community presents a potential significant contribution to the active transplant waiting list, NHS Organ Donor Register and requests made for organs for donation on behalf of a relative. The aim of the study was to examine in depth, the perceptions of the relationship between deceased organ donation, gift exchange and religion. Due to the exploratory nature of the study, grounded theory methodology was used and one to one interviews were carried out with 31 participants who were recruited using a purposive convenience sampling strategy. This approach allowed for the collection of rich and deep data in a hitherto under-researched issue with the Polish community in the UK. To contextualise the key findings of the relationship, an in-depth analysis of settlement patterns, helping behaviour and experiences of and attitudes toward religion was conducted. The relationship between religion and gift-exchange was perceived to interact in different ways with deceased organ donation depending on the context. For the individual making an end-of-life choice, gift exchange impacted on the perception of the organ as a gift and whether reciprocity was expected, religion shaped views of the need for the body after death and social and cultural norms influenced the view of the 'typical' donor and family discussion of donation. For the relatives, social, religious and cultural norms impacted on death rituals and the conceptualisation of the dead body and experiences of a relative's death. This study contributes to an understanding of the social, cultural and religious norms toward deceased organ donation from a Polish perspective and the implications for policy, health promotion and clinical practice.

Since 1992, the number of short-term mission (STM) travelers has exponentially increased for more than a decade. The purpose of STMs is to spread religious messages to local residents. In order to spread the word of God, STM travelers attempt to interact with local residents. They want to communicate with local residents in the host community and build a relationship with them. Therefore, for STM travelers their relationship with local residnets really matters. Many tourism scholars have argued that hosts-tourists interaction heavily influences both tourists and hosts. In spite of the increased popularity and the importance of host-tourist interaction in the context of STMs, STMs have received relatively little attention from the tourism research field. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to understand short-term mission travelers' interaction with local residents within four existing theories: the theory of leisure and tourist motivation, the theory of cultural hegemony, the gift-exchange theory, and the integrative theory of cross-cultural adaptation. To reach this research aim, this study used a qualitative research design rooted in the constructivist paradigm. A total of 43 STM travelers participated in the interview of this study. Considering the concept of the cultural distance between the participant's home culture and the host culture, American and Korean STM travelers who visited Cambodia or Thailand were recruited. Also, to understand the process of participant's relationship-building and cross-cultural adaptation, both pre- and post-interviews with 26 participants were conducted. The results showed that STM travelers sought personal and interpersonal rewards from the trip, which supports the theory of leisure motivation. Also, this type of travel had similarities with alternative, mass, and volunteer tourism in terms of tourist motivation. Regarding the theory of cultural hegemony, hegemonic power was exercised through STM travelers' work. STM travelers took advantage of an opportunity to provide what locals wanted as an opportunity to spread their religious message. Furthermore, identified conflicts between Christianity and the local culture support the existence of cultural hegemony. Concerning the relationship-building process of STM travelers, the results suggested that STM travelers built their relationship with local people and God by providing a gift to them and positively evaluating receivers' responses. In terms of the theory of cross-cultural adaptation, this study found support for this theory as successful intercultural adaptation led to a personal transformation in travelers. Finally, cultural distance was considered as a dimension of the intercultural adaptation theory. Regarding the perceived cultural distance, American mission travelers reported cultural distance with the host culture whereas Korean mission travelers expressed a cultural similarity to the host cultures rather than cultural difference.