In China, family members' opinions, which are deeply influenced by family culture, are the key to the success of organ donation. This study explored the family cultural model of voluntary organ donation based on the specific cultural background of China.

Based on the grounded theory, taking the family as a unit, a total of 15 families (59 family members) were interviewed using group discussion to collect citizens' information on voluntary organ donation. Nvivo12 was used to catalog and analyze the data.

Regarding awareness and attitude towards organ donation of families, among the 59 participants, 25 had the intention to donate, among whom only 8 supported their family members to sign up as donors. Thirty were unwilling to donate organs and they seemed to deny other family members to donate. With regard to family cultural model of organ donation, based on family modernization theory and according to whether the willingness of family organ donation is dominated by the father, it can be divided into the patriarchal family cultural model, independent family cultural model, and patriarchal subversion cultural model. According to whether the willingness of family organ donation is affected by social factors, it can be divided into the conservative family cultural model, swing family cultural model, and selfless family cultural model.

Willingness to donate organs is greatly affected by family culture, and the overall level of willingness to donate is low. Different family models have different effects on organ donation. Understanding the characteristics of different family models can help the organ donation coordinator to mediate and improve the rate of organ donation.