We’re all familiar with donating our clothing, our blood and even our valuable time. But, what about donating your stool? There’s an urgent medical need for stool donation for those in need of fecal microbiota transplant (FMT), but many people have trouble getting over the “ick factor.” What would motivate you to donate? Financial reimbursement? Or, perhaps just the knowledge that you could possibly be saving a life?

These are the questions that Breanna McSweeney and her colleagues at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, AB, Canada, set out to answer as they identified the primary motivators and barriers to stool donation using an online questionnaire disseminated in the U.S., U.K. and Canada. In a blog posted on Everyday Health, McSweeney shares what factors motivate and deter stool donation and the potentially life-saving benefits it can offer patients who are the recipients of the donations.

Ms. McSweeney presented data from the study “Potential motivators and deterrents for stool donors: A multicenter study,” abstract Tu1894, at Digestive Disease Week^® on Tuesday, June 5 at 9:30 a.m. EDT, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.