ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: This study sought to discover the beliefs of nursing professionals in the organ donation process and to establish a relationship between the training and the beliefs of these professionals. METHODS: This was a quantitative and exploratory study composed of 611 nursing professionals. The sample characteristics and the response frequencies were presented through the use of descriptive statistics. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to evaluate the different results between the professional categories. RESULTS: When evaluating the association between professional nursing, technical and nursing auxiliaries, and beliefs in the donation process, significant differences were found regarding the belief that the transplant improves the quality of life of the recipient, that there is no death while there is a heartbeat, that people are hijacked for organ withdrawal, and that it is possible to buy an organ for transplantation. CONCLUSIONS: For the beliefs presented by nursing professionals, it is evident that there is a need for educational programs to deconstruct negative beliefs and promote change in the professionals' posture.
