Determinants of Family Members' Willingness to Donate Organs in Intensive Care Units: A Cross-Sectional Study

Despite the lifesaving potential of organ donation, a gap persists between organ demand and availability. Family members of intensive care unit (ICU) patients play a key role in consent for donation, yet factors influencing their decisions are not fully understood. This study assessed the willingness of ICU patients' family members to donate organs and explored associated sociodemographic, clinical, and attitudinal factors.

In this cross-sectional single-centered tertiary care center in northern Jordan, 155 adult family members of ICU patients completed a structured questionnaire on demographics, patient variables, knowledge of organ donation and brain death, religious and cultural beliefs, trust in healthcare, and exposure to public campaigns. Baseline characteristics were summarized using descriptive statistics, and between-group comparisons were conducted using chi-square, Student's t-test, or Mann-Whitney U-test, as appropriate. Firth's penalized logistic regression was used to identify independent predictors of willingness due to small sample size and sparse cell counts.

Of 155 participants, 44 (28.4%; 95% CI: 21.9-35.9%) were willing to donate. High trust in the healthcare system was the strongest independent predictor of willingness (OR 7.73; 95% CI: 3.21-19.93; p<0.001), followed by a favorable religious stance toward donation (OR 4.75; 95% CI: 1.99-12.23; p<0.001) and high familiarity with organ donation (OR 2.78; 95% CI: 1.12-6.87; p = 0.028).

Willingness to donate organs among family members of ICU patients was primarily influenced by trust in the healthcare system, religious beliefs, and familiarity with organ donation. Context-specific interventions targeting these factors may help improve consent rates in similar settings.