Intensive care nurses often have to discuss organ donation

There is a significant shortage of organ donors - 700 a year, compared to the 6,000 awaiting a transplant.

Around 42% of families who are asked to donate organs refuse, rising to 77% among the non-white population.

The Southampton University study aims to improve the way hospitals ask families about organ donation.

There are growing numbers of people requiring transplants, and decreasing numbers or donor organs becoming available UK Transplant spokesman

Little is known about the views of families who decide not donate, so researchers do not understand what it was that made them say no.

Dr Magi Sque, a senior lecturer in the University of Southampton's School of Nursing and Midwifery, who is leading the research, said her experience had suggested several possible reasons.

She told the BBC News website: "One is that people who don't donate actually know their loved one's wishes.

"But some families are concerned at the way they perceive their loved one has been looked after.

"Or they may feel that the care the donor received was not as good as it should have been, or that people tend to give up on their loved one before everything they feel could have been done was done.

"Others may think that their loved one, who is usually a young person who has had a tragic death, perhaps in a car accident, has been through enough medical intervention."

Support

The way in which families are approached can also affect their willingness to donate, she said.

"In some cases, families have been approached by a number of different hospital staff about donating organs, but each person has tackled the issue in a different way.

"There hasn't been one consistent approach."

It was also important that hospital staff always respected religious and other beliefs, Dr Sque said.

She added: "I think the very best thing that could come out of this study is that we could find a way of helping families make the decision about whether or not to donate.

"We also need to know a lot more about how to offer support to bereaved families.

The year-long study, funded by a �96,000 grant from UK Transplant, will talk to families whose loved ones died months or years ago to ask them about their experiences.

The families will be recruited via a media campaign, and through some hospitals.

A spokesman for UK Transplant said: "There are growing numbers of people requiring transplants, and decreasing numbers or donor organs becoming available.

"Our main aim is to increase the number of people on the organ donor register, and thereby increase the number of potential donors.

"But this research will examine the significant issue of why people become donors, and why families refuse."