Altruism and Oocyte Donation: Motivational dimensions and decisions in women donors

The choice to enter an Oocyte Donation programme is an important decision that not only affects the life of the egg donor, but also to the mother receiving. Is it an act of solidarity, altruistic, completely selfless and without more interest than the satisfaction of being helping another woman to become a mother? The aim of this study was to achieve a better understanding of the donors’ motivations, perceptions and values to enter an Oocyte Donation programme. This study included 57 women potential donors that approached a fertility clinic. Their average age is 26.28 (SD = 4.35) years (range 18–34). A specifically designed questionnaire was administered before the donation. The data were analysed descriptively, using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences SPSS. This descriptive analysis of the data showed differential results according to demographic, personal and contextual variables.