The purpose of this study is to clarify the structure of consciousness which affects the attitude concerning organ transplantation, especially donation of one's organ, by means of the covariance structure analysis. The main findings from the survey for 705 subjects of ordinary group and 160 subjects of medical students were as follows: 1. In the ordinary group, background factors that construct a view of life and death are classified into two main flows which are interrelated from each other: one from "Animism" to "Buddhist belief" that respects the souls and the other from "Confucianist idea" that respects the body . "Buddhist belief" contributed to the attitude that did not reject the donation of their organs. 2. Regarding the medical students, only "Confucianist idea" among the background factors played a regulating role in construction of a view of life and death. 3. "Confucianist idea" remarkably regulated the attitude that rejects donation of their organs in both ordinary people and medical students. However, it was shown that the basic structure of a view of life and death in the ordinary people was quite different from that in the medical students.

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The purpose of this study is to analyze the background factors of subconsciousness which underlie in the Japanese view of life and death, especially the attitude toward the remains. The data were obtained from a questionnaire survey for 874 subjects, i.e. 705 ordinary people and 169 medical students. The main findings are as follows: 1. Animism, belief in the ancestral souls, confucianist ideas, Buddhist belief, and the respect of the ashes were initially supposed as the background factors. However, the results of the factor analysis show that the separation of animism from Buddhist belief, and the separation of the religious mind from the repect of the ashes are impossible. 2. The answers were significantly different in the ordinary people and the medical students, but the same factors were subtracted from both groups. 3. Insufficient knowledge about the cerebral death, womanhood, youthfulness and the Confucianist idea are the reasons for the ordinary people to reject the idea of donating the organs. In the student group, only the Confucianist idea is a related factor to the rejection. 4. Insufficient knowledge about the cerebral death, oldness, Confucianist idea, denial of the almighty of science and the mixed sense of respect for the ashes and the religious mind are the reasons for the ordinary people to reject to receive the other's organs. In the students group, only the mixed sense of respect for the ashes and the religious minds is the factor for rejection. 5. It is necessary for the doctors to understand the Japanese view of life and death and its background factors; this means that the medical education should include these factors.

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