Investigating the Psychological Health Status of the Immediate Family Members of Patients with Brain Death and Organ Donators in Hamadan Province

 Sudden and unexpected death on one hand, and the crucial decision over organ donation on the other hand, can severely affect the mental health status of the family members of brain death patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychological health status of the family members of the patients with brain death and organ donators.

 In this cross-sectional descriptive study, the target population included all immediate family members of the patients with brain death who had agreed on organ donation. For this purpose, 50 individuals were selected as the sample of the study based on available sampling method. The instruments used in this study were the Mental Health Questionnaire, Beck Depression and Anxiety Questionnaire and Grief Experience Questionnaire.

The results showed that the level of grief and anxiety of the participants was moderate (52% and 38%, respectively). Most of the participants (50%) experienced moderate depression. In terms of general health, half of the subjects were reported to have poor or very poor health indices. The findings also showed that there is a positively significant relationship between the scores of grief and anxiety and depression (p < 0.001).

Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that people who have given consent to organ donation are not in good psychological conditions. Therefore, it is recommended that the psychology team provide psychological programs to those family members in order to improve their psychological conditions.