Assessing Family Members’ Motivational Readiness and Decision Making for Consenting to Cadaveric Organ Donation

This study assessed the applicability of two important components of the transtheoretical model of behavior change (TTM) to family consent for cadaveric organ donation. Men and women (N = 169), who consented or refused to donate the organs of a family member, completed a telephone survey reflecting the stage of change and decisional balance constructs. Psychometric analyses resulted in a two-factor decisional balance scale: a seven-item scale representing negative perceptions of consent (cons), and a seven-item scale representing positive perceptions of consent (pros). The pros and cons were significantly associated with stage of readiness for donation consent and with the family consent decision. Research utilizing this measure has the potential to enhance intervention programs to increase donation consent rates.