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 tr anstheoretical. model of behavior change (TTM) to family consent for cadave ric organ donation. Men and women (N = 169), who consented or refused to do nate the organs of a family member, completed a telephone survey reflecting the stage of change and decisional balance constructs. Psychometric analys es resulted in a two-factor decisional balance scale: a seven-item scale re presenting negative perceptions of consent (cons), and a seven-item scale r epresenting positive perceptions of consent (pros). The pros and cons were significantly associated with stage of readiness for donation consent and w ith the family consent decision. Research utilizing this measure has the po tential to enhance intervention programs to increase donation consent rates .