The experiences of donor relatives, and nurses' attitudes, knowledge and behaviour regarding cadaveric donotransplantation

Narrative interviews were carried out with a purposive sample of 24 relatives of organ donors. The study examined in-depth the relatives': emotional reactions to the death and donation; perceptions of the decision-making process; assessment of the problems donation caused for them; as well as the benefits it provided. An understanding of what the experience meant to them was elicited, as was the identification of their needs. Data collection and analysis used a grounded theory approach, based on the constant comparative method. Donor relatives' experiences were found to revolve around a theme of conflict and resolution. Their experience is explained as a Theory of Dissonant Loss.In a subsequent study postal questionnaires were distributed throughout the United Kingdom to 2,465 registered nurses, to assess their personal attitudes, knowledge and behaviour regarding cadaveric donotransplantation. One thousand three hundred and thirty-four questionnaires (54%) were returned. Overall, nurses had positive attitudes to donotransplantation. Their willingness to support organ donation was comparable to that of the British public; as was their knowledge about donation. Comparisons were made between certain of their specialist groups. Differences were found between groups. Factor analysis was used to explore nurses' attitude structure. Content analysis identified their reasons for not donating organs and their preference for which organs to donate. Discriminate function analysis was used to establish the variables contributing to the identification of nurses who signed donorcards and those who did not.The contribution of both these studies to the psychosocial understanding of donotransplantation is discussed, as are the implications for policy and practice.