Table 4.

Perceived Barriers of Donating Biospecimen for Research

Themes	Subthemes	Representative Statements
Cultural issues	Whole body	“The older generation of Chinese would think they need the whole body even if they die.” “There’s a saying in Cantonese, which might be bad but not as important as in the past, is ‘dying without being intact’. And now I’m just like this, if I die now then I can’t have an intact body because my gallbladder had been cut a little, and the uterus had been removed as well. I think Chinese really care about this. So I teach my children not to turn into that.” “Westerners feels different, they would think it’s just a dead body once they die, they would prefer to donate it to save others. But generally the Chinese older adults would prefer to keep the whole body even when they die.”
	Saving face	“Chinese are concerned about saving face, and everything relate to “blood” they would lose interest.” “They worry about being seen by someone. Chinese regard face as an important part.”
Risk	Physical	“The risk is pain, swelling, or you might get an infection.” “If the one who draws your blood makes a mistake then you will have an infection or get some infectious disease.” “The problem is taking your tissue or skin which might scratch you, and if it’s blood then you might get an infection.” “The needle for blood drawing, health of the medical staff, or [the] chance to get AIDS by drawing blood.”
	Privacy	“Maybe some lose privacy [because they] would be known by someone.” “Those who are well educated have more privacy and they don’t want others to know.”
Old age	Poor health	“It’s useless even if the blood had been drawn. We all are turning to 80, 90, with high cholesterol. What’s the point to analyze these blood? You have no idea how many conditions exist. What’s the purpose for the blood drawing?” “Personally I rarely participate. I’m in poor health and only draw blood once a year for check ups.”
	Useless body	“Older adults have no blood to draw.” “Older adults don’t have extra blood to draw. The blood from the healthy people could be functional; the older adults are weak and sick.” “It’s fine for the young people, but the elderly is useless.”
	Limited personal usefulness	“The elderly would think they are too old to see the result come out, so it’s not useful for them.” “If it’s not useful for older adults, what can you expect from them?”