Living Kidney Donation – Subjective Experiences of Donors before and Two Years after Donation

Michael Langenbach, Andrea Stippel, Dirk Stippel

Dept of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Cologne.
Dept of General and Visceral Surgery, University of Cologne.
Dept of Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, St. Marien Hospital, Bonn.

DOI: 10.4236/ojots.2012.24006                

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.

Keywords

Living Donor; Qualitative Study; Quality of Life; Renal Transplantation; Subjective Experiences

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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