Psychosocial barriers associated with organ donation in Mexico.

Introduction: There is a severe shortage of organs for transplantation worldwide, and Mexico has one of the lowest organ donation rates. In this study, we explored the psychosocial barriers that prevent posthumous organ donation by Mexicans.

Method: We asked 218 adults who were not willing to be donors to complete the sentence "I don't want to donate my organs after death because organ donation is…" The data were analyzed using the Natural Semantic Networks Technique.

Results: The most important answers given by the participants were related to mistrust. Older participants and those with limited education gave more answers that reflect misconceptions about organ donation. Many participants acknowledged its benefits, even though they did not want to be donors, especially the youngest and those with a higher education.

Conclusions: Mistrust and poor education are problems that urgently need to be addressed in order to increase acceptance of organ donation and transplantation.