Parental Live Liver Donation: A Transformational Experience

Abstract

Thematic analysis was used to analyze this set of interviews, and after open coding, 3 major categories emerged: a self-awareness process, a clarification of familial relationships, and a change in perspectives on community. The overarching theme that was constructed from the interviews suggested that the impact the donation had on the donors' lives was one of transformation.

Pediatric liver transplant patients’ transition to adulthood: Patient and parent experiences

“…Deciding to become a live donor is a very difficult decision for parents. The results of our study and the literature (Nasr, ) confirm that parents felt pressured during the decision‐making process. However, once a parent decided to become an organ donor for their child, they pressured family members of other patients to be live donors.…”

Psychosocial impact of pediatric living-donor kidney and liver transplantation on recipients, donors, and the family: a systematic review

“…Diagnosis of mental health disorders [22,31,32] Self-report of psychiatric symptoms [33] Emotional and behavioral well-being (n = 11): Concerns about own health [38,41] Emotional quality of life [29,36,37] Experience of operation and recovery [33,34,[38][39][40] Feelings of emotional strain [33] Feelings of loss after donation [41] Identity and self-image [35,39,41] Regret of decision to donate [32,33,41] Willingness to donate again [29,32,36] Social functioning (n = 5): Satisfaction with social support [33,35,[38][39][40] Perspectives on (the meaning of) community [35] FAMILY Donor-recipient relationship (N = 13): [26,[28][29][30][32][33][34][35][36]38,[41][42][43] Relationship between donor and partner (N = 6): [29,[31]…”

“…First, an overall improved relationship was reported by donors [29,[32][33][34][35][36]38,41,42], recipients [26,28,30,42,43], as well as nondonor parents [33,41]. Donors described a special bond between themselves and the recipient [35,42], which was referred to as a 'region of intimacy' [42] based on mutual admiration. Correspondingly, recipients sometimes referred to their fathers (the donors) as 'buddies' [42].…”

“…Fourth, the donor-recipient relationship was negatively affected if the parents did not consider the child as the owner of the donated organ. However, only two such cases [32,35,37] *Questionnaire that intends to assess psychosocial impact or quality of life in a variety of populations or for a variety of conditions. †Questionnaire that is specifically designed for the purpose of measuring psychosocial impact or quality of life in living organ donors or transplant recipients.…”

“…Relationship between donor and partner (n = 6): Many donors and partners reported an improved relationship [35,39,41], as priorities could be refocused on the family after donation [39]. Partners overall remained supportive of the donor's decision [29,41].…”