Family Communication Patterns and Willingness to Engage in Family Discussion about Organ Donation

Abstract

While individuals may register as organ donors via state organ donor registries, it is important for people who wish to donate their organs in the future to engage in family discussion about these wishes as well because family members need to consent to the wishes of the deceased. In order to better understand possible reasons why young people may or may not engage in family discussions about organ donation, the current study examined two dimensions of family communication patterns, conformity and conversation orientations, as possible moderators for organ donation related attitudes and behaviors. Undergraduate participants (N = 461) in the United States of America responded to a questionnaire assessing general communication patterns in their family, altruism, attitudes about organ donation, intention to sign an organ donor card, and willingness to talk to family about organ donation. Findings showed that attitude toward organ donation was a stronger predictor of willingness to engage in family discussion among individuals whose family communication was lower on a conformity orientation (simple slopes, b = 0.28 versus b = 0.07) than among individuals whose family communication pattern was higher on a conformity orientation. On the other hand, intention to sign a donor card was a stronger predictor of willingness to engage in family discussion (simple slopes, b = 0.70 versus b = 0.45)) among individuals whose family communication was higher on a conversation orientation than among individuals whose family communication pattern was lower on a conversation orientation. Additionally, willingness to engage in family discussion was positively related to the self-reported behavior of family discussion about organ donation one week later.