Abstract: Objective: To investigate the current status of decisional conflicts among family members of patients before initiating Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) therapy and to analyze its influencing factors, in order to provide a basis for intervention development to alleviate their decisional conflicts and improve decision quality. Methods: Using a convenience sampling method, A total of 169 family members of patients scheduled to undergo ECMO treatment in the ICU of a tertiary grade A hospital were recruited from January 2023 to April 2025 in Nanchang. Questionnaires used in this study included the general information questionnaire, the Decisional Conflict Scale, the Preparation for Decision Making Scale, the Decisional Fatigue Scale, the Multidimentional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and the Wake Forest Physician Trust Scale. Binary Logistic regression analysis was employed to identify the influencing factors. Results: The incidence of decisional conflicts among family members of ECMO patients was 63.3%. Binary Logistic regression analysis revealed that decision fatigue, understanding of the patient's disease status and ECMO treatment information, decision preparedness, physician trust, and awareness of social support were the influencing factors of the decisional conflicts (all P<0.05). Conclusion: The level of decisional conflicts among family members of ECMO patients is high. Nursing managers can implement interventions according to the influencing factors targeting at family members experiencing high levels of decisional conflicts to alleviate their decisional difficulties and improve their decision quality.

Key words: Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation; decisional conflict; family members; influencing factor; critical care nursing