Abstract
Little is known about long-term quality of life of kidney donors. We studied subjective experiences of donors before and two years after kidney donation using in-depth interviews of eleven subjects. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed by qualitative content analysis (grounded theory). Resulting categories of this process were grouped in order to construct ideal types of subjective experiences after kidney donation. Of our donors, 64% were female, mean age was 40.4 years. Donors reported that they had had no medical problems after donation. Most displayed psychological problems, e. g. difficulties adjusting to the new situation, hypochondriacal complaints, and fear of rejection of the recipient’s kidney. Psychological complaints were particularly troublesome in case of complications of the recipient. All donors wished extended counselling after kidney donation. Identifying problems of kidney donors may be easier when doctors are trained in typical experiences. This may also guide the tailoring of individual psychological interventions.
Highlights
Kidney transplantation is the treatment of choice for selected patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD)
We studied subjective experiences of donors before and two years after kidney donation using in-depth interviews of eleven subjects
E.g. difficulties adjusting to the new situation, hypochondriacal complaints, and fear of rejection of the recipient’s kidney
Summary
Kidney transplantation is the treatment of choice for selected patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Due to continuing organ shortage, living kidney donation (LKD) has gained increasing importance in Germany in recent years. It has been established that quality of life (QoL) is an important outcome to quantify the success of transplantation for recipients in the long term [1,2]. Subjective wellbeing of kidney recipients has been studied much more often than that of donors. The preservation of QoL of living kidney donors is, paramount. Most studies on quality of life (QoL) of donors report good global QoL within the first years after kidney donation and some mental and physical symptoms and relationship problems between donor and recipient [3-8; Table 1]
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