Donor perspectives in living kidney transplantation

Abstract

OBJECTIVEThe aim of this study was to determine the overall experience of living kidney donors.METHODSAll 80 kidney donors at a teaching hospital between 2003 and 2008 were sent a postal questionnaire to determine the level of satisfaction with the kidney donation process, including post‐operative pain and return to fitness after surgery.RESULTSA total of 56 donors returned the questionnaires. The average loss of earnings in 29 donors was £995.17 6 £297.03. A total of 52 donors (93%) rated their overall experience as excellent or good, 55 donors (98%) had no regrets about donation, and 26 donors (46%) would have considered altruistic donation if they were unable to donate to their intended recipient. Qualitative analysis of responses showed a positive attitude to organ donation, with a willingness to encourage others, a request for chat facilities on the unit's website, and a more regular follow‐up.DISCUSSIONLiving kidney donors were generally satisfied with the organ donation process and likely to recommend it to others. The issue of compensation for loss of earnings must be addressed in order to encourage other potential donors. Perhaps other potential donors withdrawing from the assessment process due to inability to donate to their intended recipient should be counseled about altruistic non‐directed donation.

Decision-making for living kidney donors: an instinctual response to suffering and death

“…While most research in this area documents physical health issues (Crombie & Franklin, 2006), there is an increasing international body of research that addresses donor decision-making from a range of countries including Sweden (Sanner, 2005), Canada (Ummel, Achille, & Mekkelholt, 2011), United Kingdom (Rana & Akoh, 2010), and Korea (Yi, 2003). Although the experience of the donor has been more extensively researched than that of the recipient (Ummel et al, 2011), the research in this area is still inconclusive.…”

The Motivations and Experiences of Living Kidney Donors: A Thematic Synthesis

“…37 ; open/laparoscopic nephrectomies were used in Rana and Akoh. 38 Abbreviations and definitions: -, not stated; AU, Australia; CA, Canada; content analysis, deductive methodology that involved identification of codes before searching for their occurrence in the data; DE, Germany; ethnography, to discover and describe individual social and cultural groups; GB, Great Britain; grounded theory, theories are grounded in the empirical data and built up inductively through a process of careful analysis and comparisons; narrative analysis, focuses on ways in which people make and use stories to interpret the world; NL, the Netherlands; NO, Norway; phenomenology, to study people's understanding and interpretations of their experiences in their own terms and emphasizing these as explanations for their actions; PT, Portugal; SE, Sweden; social network analysis, encompasses theories, models, and applications that are expressed in terms of relational concepts or processes; thematic analysis, concepts and theories are inductively derived from the data; UK, United Kingdom; US, United States. This study aims to synthesize published qualitative studies of the experiences and perspectives of living kidney donors.…”