The purposes of this study were to identify the meanings that the family attributes to the experience of making the decision about their child's organ donation and to construct a substantive, a representative substantive theory that represents this experience. The study used Symbolic Interactionism and the Grounded Theory methodology as a theoretical reference. Data was collected through interviews with thirteen families who were selected from the Organ Search Organization in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and whose child had died between January, 2004 and December, 2005. After the comparative data analysis, it was possible to construct a substantive theory Trying to Minimize Pain and to Alleviate Suffering composed by, "Living the impact of the tragedy", "Working with the uncertainties of brain death", "Managing the decision-making problem" and "Reconstructing the history of the child's death". The time the families have in order to deal with the reality of the death of their child is a determinant in their willingness to consider donating their child's organs.
Family nursing; Death; Organ transplantation; Decision making
