Abstract
AbstractAim: Liver transplantation from living donors affects not only recipients’ but also donors’ lives. The aim of this study was to explore living donors’ experience of life. Methods: The sample consisted of 16 living donors who donated a part of their liver to a patient who had end-stage liver failure. Anonymised interview transcripts were analyzed following established conventions. Results: The analysis showed that participants evaluated their life in terms of limitations brought by organ donation surgery, awareness of the need for lifestyle changes, emotional changes, changes in character, and mixed relationships. Emotional changes involved the experience of both negative and positive emotions (feeling reputable, feeling like being born again). Changes in character included both worsening of character (becoming half human, turning into an aggressive person) and positive changes in character (becoming more of a believer and a humanist). Mixed relationships included feeling supported by loved ones an...
Highlights
The main treatment of end-stage liver disease (ESLD) consists of liver transplantation either from a cadaver or from a living donor
The research presented in this paper aims to understand the ways in which living donors of liver transplantation experience life following their surgery for organ donation and identify targets for psychoeducational program or clinical consultations in order to improve their wellbeing
This paper showed that donors experienced negative and positive emotions and felt that their character had changed
Summary
The main treatment of end-stage liver disease (ESLD) consists of liver transplantation either from a cadaver or from a living donor. Studies aiming at understanding the effects of organ donation have focused on the construct of adjustment. A small number of studies have shown that donors experience depressive symptoms (Fukunishi et al, 2001; Walter et al, 2002). Studies (Walter et al, 2003) have shown that before organ donation, donors’ quality of life is low and that quality of life after liver donation is high among donors (Chen & Yan, 2001; Feltrin, Pegoraro, & Rago, 2008; Zhang et al, 2005). Other studies have shown that before organ donation donors’ quality of life is high, after organ donation significant reduction in quality of life occurs in physical health, and living conditions (Walter et al, 2003). A study found that health-related quality of life was significantly worse during the second year after organ donation than during the fifth year (De Bona, Ponton, & Ermani, 2000)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call