Data_Sheet_1_Public awareness and understanding of stem cell treatments available in Saudi Arabia and their trust in hospitals and research centers involved in stem cell research—a cross sectional study.docx

IntroductionAlthough stem cell research and therapeutic applications hold great promise for medical advancements, and have rapidly progressed globally, there remains a lack of genuine public awareness of the status of this subject in Saudi Arabia. Successful integration of stem cell therapy into healthcare relies on public awareness, understanding, and trust. Therefore, we aimed in this cross-sectional study to assess the public’s knowledge, awareness, trust, support, participation, and confidence in stem cell treatments and centers involved in it.Materials and methodsA voluntary questionnaire of 20 questions was distributed randomly via social media outlets.ResultsThree thousand five hundred eighty four individuals participated in the survey, with approximately half of them falling within the age range of 35–50 years (46.71%). Majority of the participants, 90.71%, would like to know more about stem cell therapy and more than half of the participants (56.94%) were unfamiliar with the idea, and a comparable proportion (50.41%) expressed concerns about the safety of stem cell therapy. A lower level of awareness, indicated by a score of 5, was evenly distributed across all age groups and genders. However, regardless of gender, older participants—especially those 50 years of age or older—tended to report higher levels of confidence, trust, and support than participants in other age groups. Moreover, trust, support, participation, and confidence score for those attained high school or less was statistically significantly lower than those attained master’s or PhD degree. Of the participants, 33.57% had either received stem cell therapy themselves or known someone who had; about 24.07% of them reported that it was a cosmetic type of treatment.ConclusionThe study emphasizes the persistent need for awareness and educational initiatives to minimize the lack of public awareness and understanding of approved stem cell treatments in Saudi Arabia. It advocates for increased education, transparency, and communication to bridge knowledge gaps and enhance public trust to ensure the understanding of successful treatment.

尽管干细胞研究及其在医疗领域的应用前景广阔，且在全球范围内取得了迅速的进展，但在沙特阿拉伯，公众对这一主题的现状仍缺乏真正的认知。干细胞疗法成功融入医疗保健体系依赖于公众的认知、理解和信任。因此，本研究旨在通过一项横断面调查，评估公众对干细胞治疗及其相关中心的认知、意识、信任、支持、参与和信心。研究材料与方法中，通过社交媒体渠道随机发放了一份包含20个问题的自愿问卷。调查结果显示，共有3584名个体参与了调查，其中大约一半的受访者年龄在35至50岁之间（占比46.71%）。绝大多数参与者（占比90.71%）表示希望了解更多关于干细胞疗法的信息，超过一半的参与者（占比56.94%）对该理念不熟悉，并且有相当比例的参与者（占比50.41%）对干细胞疗法的安全性表示担忧。低认知水平（评分5分）在所有年龄段和性别中均匀分布。然而，无论性别如何，年龄较大的参与者——特别是50岁及以上的参与者——倾向于报告比其他年龄组的参与者更高的信心、信任和支持水平。此外，受过高中或以下教育程度的参与者的信任、支持、参与和信心评分在统计学上显著低于受过硕士或博士学位的参与者。在参与者中，有33.57%的人本人接受过干细胞治疗或认识接受过治疗的人；其中约24.07%的人报告称这是一种美容类型的治疗。结论部分强调，沙特阿拉伯对批准的干细胞疗法缺乏公众认知和理解的现状亟待通过提高意识、加强教育和沟通等举措来缓解。研究倡导增加教育、透明度和沟通，以弥合知识差距并增强公众信任，以确保公众对成功治疗的正确理解。