Developing a Religiously-Tailored Health Education Model for American Muslims

Project 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:

Enhancing workshop attendee knowledge of the benefits and risks, understanding of religious arguments for and against, and biomedical knowledge about the process and types of living organ donation
Enhancing workshop attendee knowledge of the benefits and risks, and understanding of religious arguments for and against different medical decisions and procedures during end-of-life care

This project is funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (Grant Number R39OT31104).

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?

Findings from Community based surveys in Michigan and Chicago

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.

Why End-of-Life Care?

Muslim patients and physicians grapple with questions about ethical obligations of providers and families during end-of-life healthcare. Identified issues of uncertainty include: withholding and withdrawing life sustaining treatment and whether or not brain death equates to true death according to Islam.

Academic Papers

Op-Eds

Academic Papers

Academic Presentations

Aguilar, Jennifer. Cochran, Susan.Craig, Megan. Duivenbode, Rosie. Padela, Aasim. Developing Religiously-Tailored Health Education to Inform American Muslims about Organ Donation.The Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation Conference.September 19, 2019, Charleston, South Carolina.
Duivenbode, Rosie. American Muslim Attitudes Towards Common Fertility Treatment Options: A Mosque-Based Cross Sectional Study. Advancing Muslim American Health Priorities Conference.October 19,2019. Chicago,Illinois
Duivenbode, Rosie.Working with Muslim Patients. Interdiscplinary Nephrology Conference hosted by the National Kidney Foundation. October 29, 2019, Oak Brook, Illinois.

Replication Toolkit

Replication Guide

Community members who are interested in replicating religiously-tailored, peer led, organ donation workshops in your mosque can use our replication guide to help plan workshops that address both biomedical and religious knowledge regarding living organ donation.

Replication Guide

PowerPoint Presentations

Click on the PowerPoint titles below to download for public use.

Educational Resources

Community members who are interested in replicating the workshops can find samples of our peer education training manual, participant course booklets, as well as other educational documents and videos that might be helpful in organizing the workshops.

DC Workshops

Dr. Aasim Padela presenting, “Islamic Perspectives on Living Organ Donation” at ADAMS- Sulley in DC.

DC Workshops

Dr. Milda Saunders presenting, ” The Biomedical Aspects of Living Organ Donation” in ADAMS-Sterling DC.

ADAMS Sterling DC

Dr. Ermin Sinanovic presenting, “Critical Theological Concepts about Sickness & Health in Islam in ADAMS-Sterling DC.

Recruitment Banner

Sample recruitment banner set up at the male and female entrances of each mosque.

Peer Education Training

I&M trained 13 peer educators at Gift of Hope in Chicago. Peer educators facilitated the organ donation and end-of-Life care workshops.

Registration Table

Sample registration and check-in table for workshops.

IFN Recruitment Volunteers

Pictured left to right: Imadul Chowdhury, Fahad Abbasi, Zayd Ahmed, Orhan Onder, Dr. Aasim Padela recruiting mosque goers during Jumu’ah.

Chicago Workshops

Dr. Aasim Padela presenting, “Islamic Perspectives on Living Organ Donation.”

IFN Recruitment Volunteers

Pictured left to right: Muhammad Muqsith, Anas Qatanani, Fahad Abbasi, Imadul Chowdhury, and Ali Siddiqui recruiting mosque goers during Jum’uah.

Chicago Workshops

Dr. Aasim Padela pictured delivering the End-of-Life Care workshops at IFN Mosque in Libertyville, IL.

Chicago Workshops

Dr. Aasim Padela presenting, “Islamic Rulings about Brain Death & Withdrawing/Withholding Life Support.”

Chicago Workshop

IFN’s Imam Azfar presenting, “Critical Theological Concepts about Sickness & Health in Islam.”

AMAT 2019

Dr. Rosie Duivenbode speaking at the Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation ‘s 2019 Conference in South Carolina.

AMAT 2019

Pictured left to right: Jennifer Aguilar (Community Outreach Specialist at Gift of Hope) and Dr. Aasim Padela (Principal Investigator of the study and Director of II&M).

AMAT 2019

Dr. Aasim Padela speaking at the Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation ‘s 2019 Conference in South Carolina.

AMAT 2019

Pictured left to right: Dr. Rosie Duivenbode (Post Doctoral Research Fellow at II&M) and Susan Cochran (Aftercare Specialist/ Interfaith Outreach Coordinator at Gift of Hope).

Interdisciplinary Nephrology Conference

Dr. Rosie Duivenbode speaking at the National Kidney Foundation’s 2019 Interdisciplinary Nephrology Conference in Oak Brook, IL.

Interdisciplinary Nephrology Conference

Dr. Rosie Duivenbode delivering her talk, “Caring for Muslim Patients: Religious Considerations in Dialysis and Transplantation.”

Chicago Round Table on Science & Religion

Dr. Rosie Duivenbode speaking alongside Jewish and Christian Drs. Noam Stadlam and James Sherley for Chicago Round Table’s Conversations on Religion and Bioemedical Research.

Chicago Round Table on Science & Religion

Pictured left to right: Dr. Noam Stadlam, Dr. Rosie Duivenbode , and Dr. James Sherley.

Developing Religiously Tailored Intervention

Supported by:

Community Advisory Board

Tareq Abedin
Mohammad Yahya Alvi
Jaseem Anwer
Naeem Baig
Fawzia Fazily
Irfan Galaria
Mahsin Habib
Muhammad Nabeel Hasan
Kamran Husain
Mohammad Khalid
Fauzia Lodhib
Saulat Pervez
Rafiq Rakhangi
Latif A. Rasheed
Irfan Shaikh
Neima Surur
Sabih Uddin
Abdul Rahman Wajid