*Purpose: To analyze factors associated with affirmative authorization for VCA donation from public opinion.

*Methods: KnowledgePanel is the largest online panel that relies on probability-based sampling techniques for recruitment. This panel provides samples with the highest level of representativeness available in online research for the measurement of public opinions, attitudes, and behaviors. For the selection of general population samples from KnowledgePanel, a patented methodology has been developed that ensures all samples behave as the equal probability selection method (EPSEM) samples. This methodology starts by weighting the pool of active members to the geodemographic benchmarks. Using the resulting weights as measures of size, a probability-proportional-to-size (PPS) procedure is used to select study-specific samples. The geodemographic benchmarks used to weight the active panel members for computation of size measures include: gender, age, race, education, census region, household income, homeownership status, metropolitan area, and Hispanic origin.

*Results: A total of (n = 260) responded to the survey that included eight sections; Demographics, Familiarity with Donation, Face and Hand Donation, Consent, Reasons, Medical Trust/Distrust and Funeral Plans. After answering these questions, the respondents were exposed to a stimulus that tells the story of a fire fighter who received a face transplant and his subsequent life. Respondents then answered stimulus questions (4 questions) to determine whether the stimulus affected their responses about face and hand donation. At the end, three In-Depth questions are asked. After data collection and analysis, we tested the significance among different groups of respondents. Our results show that after reading the stimulus, there is a significance difference in respondents’ willingness to register and to consent for face and hand donation for themselves and their family members. In addition, there is a significant difference in the participants’ willingness to register for face and hand donation. This significance is observed among different age groups, between both genders, among participants with income more than or less than 50k, and among different ethnic groups. Other influential factors are region, religious, spirituality, belief in God and military background.

*Conclusions: This comprehensive survey provided profound insights into the factors associated with organ donation, and the likely authorization for VCA donation. The favorable response rate after reading the stimulus story emphasizes the importance of awareness and familiarity with the issue of face and hand donation. Touching the impact this transplant would make in one’s quality of life is another contributing factor in increasing the registration and consent rate for donation. This study is funded by the Department of Defense (W81XWH-17-1-0646).

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