Perceptions in Living Kidney Donation: What Protagonists Think and Feel

Abstract

Background. Although donor perceptions of donation have been evaluated in several programs, evaluation of associated recipients has not been as frequent. Purpose. Our aim was to evaluate and compare after transplantation, donor and recipient perceptions of donation. Methods. After transplantation 35 recipients and 45 donors completed a sociodemographic and a donation perception questionnaire. We applied the Fisher test to descriptive (absolute and relative frequency) data. Results. 57.8% of donors were female and 62.9% of recipients male. 53.3% of donors were siblings, 44.5% parents, and 2.2% a daughter. Most recipients (71.9%) thought that the donation was the donors' initiative and 21.9% that it was suggested by medical team. 96.4% responded that it was the donor's wish that determined their decision; 51.4% had serious or some doubts about accepting the option, but for 48.6% it was an easy decision. Among the donors, 88.9% decided by themselves and 8.9% were asked for donation. For 91.1%, their wish was the main reason of the decision, but 8.9% felt a moral obligation; 77.8% thought it was an easy decision, and 17.8% hesitated a little 84.4% were not worried about their future health. Conclusions. Altruistic motivations were predominant in both groups. Most recipients thought that the motivation for donation was self-determined, a finding that agreed with donor perceptions. Perceptions about the quality of and changes in emotional relationship were the same in both groups. Donors and recipients referred to the donation process as positive, but there were some negative emotions and perceptions.

Psychosocial wellbeing after living kidney donation - a longitudinal, prospective study

“…The remainder of the LKD questions showed that the majority of participants felt positively about LKD; however, again these were not associated with significant improvements in the psychosocial questionnaire scores. The rate of regret at both 3 and 12 months is in keeping with rates reported elsewhere (0–17%) . Previously documented risk factors for regret, such as graft loss and complications, were not elicited from this study, most likely due to the small numbers of participants expressing evidence of regret and the small number of deaths and graft losses.…”

From donation to everyday life: Living kidney donors’ experiences three months after donation

“…; Frade et al . ). A majority of donors would definitively or probably make the same choice if asked and faced with the decision with the benefit of hindsight (Frade et al .…”

“…A majority of donors would definitively or probably make the same choice if asked and faced with the decision with the benefit of hindsight (Frade et al . , ). There are positive adjustments in donors characterised by a new appreciation in life, personal growth and improved self‐esteem, in the sense of having contributed to a better life for another person (Ummel et al .…”

'It's hard to ask': Examining the factors influencing decision-making amongst end-stage renal disease patients considering asking friends and family for a kidney

“…Gordon studied 79 participants over 18 months, finding that only twenty-two percent (n=17) of her sample would ask someone to donate and that, where participants had received offers of a kidney and were pro-transplant (n=23), only one third of this group (n=7) would have asked someone to donate. Participants in Gordon's research drew attention to the difference between asking someone to donate versus accepting an offer of a kidney, and this finding is raised in many studies (Frade et al, 2011;Kranenburg et al, 2009;Waterman, Barrett & Stanley, 2008). Gordon's participants raised two major issues: "(1) asking people to donate is difficult to do, and (2) asking people makes them feel obligated to donate, which is not good because organ donation should be voluntary" (p. 259).…”