Development and Psychometric Testing of the Signed Donor Card (SDC) Scale in an Islamic Society

Area of Science:

• Medical Sociology
• Health Psychology
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Organ transplantation faces a critical shortage of available organs globally.
• The signed donor card is a key mechanism to address this shortage.
• Developing targeted interventions requires a valid and reliable measurement scale.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and psychometrically test a Signed Donor Card (SDC) scale.
• To assess the scale's validity and reliability within an Islamic cultural context.
• To identify key factors influencing organ donation intention.

Main Methods:

• Methodological study involving 600 office employees in Hamadan, Iran.
• Development of a 46-item scale assessing various psychosocial and religious factors.
• Psychometric evaluation including face, content, construct validity, internal consistency (Cronbach's α), and test-retest reliability (ICC).
• Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) using SPSS and Mplus software.

Main Results:

• The SDC scale demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (α = 0.58–0.93) and good test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.76).
• CFA confirmed a good model fit, revealing nine components: attitude, subjective norms, intention, anticipated regret, descriptive norms, perceived control, knowledge, non-cognitive beliefs, and religious beliefs.
• Convergent and discriminant validity were established, supporting the scale's construct validity.

Conclusions:

• The developed SDC scale is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring factors related to organ donation decisions in Islamic societies.
• The scale can inform the design and implementation of culturally sensitive interventions to increase signed donor card adoption.
• Understanding the identified components is crucial for addressing specific barriers and facilitators to organ donation.