Table 2 Principal component analysis of the 17-item questionnaire

1. Brain dead patients have no brainstem reflex.

0.684

2. Brain dead patients do not breathe spontaneously.

0.725

3. Brain dead patients have no awareness of their surroundings.

0.773

4. Brain dead patients can feel pain.

0.627

5. Brain dead patients may wake up.

0.652

6. Stop the treatment for a brain dead family member.

0.587

7. Organs and/or tissues of brain dead patients can be transplanted to the recipient.

0.780

8. Donate my organs and/or tissues after brain death.

0.775

9. Donate the organs and/or tissues of a brain dead family member.

0.784

10. Accept organs and/or tissues donated by brain dead patients.

0.749

11. Be misdiagnosed as brain dead and lose the chance of treatment.

0.841

12. Be misdiagnosed as brain dead and organs and/or tissues might be harvested while alive.

0.833

13. Premature termination of treatment.

0.774

14. Participate in the training on the knowledge about brain death.

0.805

15. Added the knowledge about brain death to the curriculum of medical education.

0.836

16. Disseminate the knowledge of brain death to family members or friends.

0.830

17. Disseminate the knowledge of brain death to the public.

0.849