Paediatric organ donation rates in Australia do not match the demand for paediatric organ transplants. Paediatric donations require parents to consent to donate the organs of their child, yet little research exists on how paediatric donation is understood outside of the medical world. Drawing from social representation theory, we examined how paediatric donation was portrayed by the media, the primary source of information about organ donation. Fifty-nine newspaper articles, across eight Australian newspapers, were subjected to thematic analysis. Common themes coalesced around the paediatric donation decision, what the decision means for parents, and the experiences of paediatric transplant recipients and their families. Donation and transplantation were portrayed either as a contradiction, where a child was required to die in order for a child to live, or as mutually beneficial, where donation was a positive outcome of a tragic death. Interpreted within a dialogical framework, we suggest that notions of contradiction and mutual benefit are generated by the underlying thema life/death, and shaped in tandem by the paediatric context. The roles of themata, emotional anchoring, and objectification are discussed. Importantly, this study highlights the need to investigate the interplay between emotional contradiction, mutual dependence, and parental decision-making about paediatric organ donation.

中文翻译：

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“盼生就是等死”：儿科器官捐献媒体报道中的情感锚定与主题

澳大利亚的儿科器官捐赠率与儿科器官移植的需求不匹配。儿科捐赠需要父母同意捐赠他们孩子的器官，但关于如何在医学界之外理解儿科捐赠的研究很少。根据社会表征理论，我们研究了媒体是如何描述儿科捐赠的，媒体是器官捐赠信息的主要来源。来自八家澳大利亚报纸的 59 篇报纸文章进行了专题分析。共同的主题围绕着儿科捐赠决定、该决定对父母的意义以及儿科移植受者及其家人的经历展开。捐赠和移植要么被描绘成矛盾，要么 孩子必须死去才能让孩子活着，或者互惠互利，捐赠是悲惨死亡的积极结果。在对话框架内进行解释，我们建议矛盾和互利的概念是由潜在的生/死主题产生的，并由儿科背景共同塑造。讨论了主题、情感锚定和客观化的作用。重要的是，这项研究强调了调查儿科器官捐赠的情绪矛盾、相互依赖和父母决策之间相互作用的必要性。并由儿科环境共同塑造。讨论了主题、情感锚定和客观化的作用。重要的是，这项研究强调了调查儿科器官捐赠的情绪矛盾、相互依赖和父母决策之间相互作用的必要性。并由儿科环境共同塑造。讨论了主题、情感锚定和客观化的作用。重要的是，这项研究强调了调查儿科器官捐赠的情绪矛盾、相互依赖和父母决策之间相互作用的必要性。