A survey of awareness, knowledge and attitudes regarding stem cell donation among different people in the community:a systematic review study

Stem cells play an important role in tissue regeneration and treatment of diseases. This study aimed to investigate the awareness, knowledge and attitudes regarding stem cell donation among different people in the community.

In this systematic review study, Persian keywords and English keywords such as awareness, knowledge, stem cells, embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells, cord blood stem cells and donation were selected according to MeSH database and then these selected keywords have been searched in the academic databases such as PubMed, Scopus, OVID, Science Direct, Iran Medex and SID. In addition, these selected keywords have been searched in the search engines such as Google Scholar, between January 2010 to December 2021.

The results of this study found a total of twenty-five articles related to the awareness, knowledge and attitudes regarding stem cell donation among different people in the community. They were selected. In this study there were 10 cross-sectional studies, 2 descriptive-cross-sectional studies, 5 descriptive studies, 1 mixed method study, 1 semi-experimental study, 1 intervention study, 1 survey study, 1 review study, and the study type was not mentioned in three studies. Most of the studies were conducted in countries such as India, Saudi Arabia, and then United States (USA) and Turkey. Only one article was found in Iran. The results of studies have shown that the level of awareness and attitude of the majority of different people in the community towards the donation and use of stem cells is medium and low. However, most people have a good and positive attitude towards the donation and use of stem cells and mention the use of stem cells as an effective way to treat diseases.

Considering the importance and application of stem cells, it is suggested that managers and planners provide the necessary conditions to implement educational programs to raise the level of awareness and attitude of different people in the community towards stem cell donation.