Potential Living Kidney Donors' Health Education Use and Comfort with Donation

Abstract

Before evaluation, most potential donors are willing to donate because they think that it is important to improve the health of a loved one. Their knowledge of donation varies and they need clear information about medical testing and support coping with any negative donation outcomes.

Living Kidney Donor Decision Making and Communication

“…Using a sample of 32 kidney donor candidates, the highest expectations were found for interpersonal benefits and personal growth. A small percentage of donors did report feeling coerced into donating (Jacobs et al, 1998;Waterman et al, 2004). However, it is common practice for medical personnel to offer to fabricate a medical excuse to render the potential donor ineligible at any time during the process in which he or she may feel uneasy (McKoy & McKoy, 2008).…”

“…In many cases, individuals in need of kidneys do not even have to ask others to be donors. Past research has demonstrated that donors most commonly volunteer to donate rather than waiting to be asked (Cabrer et al, 2003;Lennerling, Forsberg, Meyer, & Nyberg, 2004;Reimer et al, 2006;Waterman et al, 2004). The next goal of this research, therefore, was to explore the communication involved in living donation, including the initial discovery of the need for donation, any offers to donate, and the subsequent responses.…”

“…Individuals who consider sick time, travel time, out-ofpocket expenses, scarring, and their own risk of developing kidney failure to be very important are 50-60% less likely to be extremely willing to donate to a sibling. Donors also worry about guilt, anxiousness, and pain (Waterman et al, 2004).…”

“…One part of the decision-making process involves an individual's motivation for donating. Common motivations for donating include the desire to preserve a loved one's life, the desire to share one's resources, the desire to be of help, and the belief that the experience will be beneficial (Brown et al, 2008;Lennerling et al, 2004;Papachristou et al, 2004;Waterman et al, 2004). A living donation expectancies questionnaire has also been used to determine donor motivations (Rodrigue et al, 2006).…”

“…In 2008, 5,967 living donor kidney transplants were performed (Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, 2009). For this reason, characteristics of live donors have frequently been studied (Cabrer et al, 2003;Hilton & Starzomski, 1994;Waterman et al, 2004). One infrequently researched…”