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Psychosocial evaluation of candidates for living related kidney donation

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Abstract

Living kidney donation has raised practical and ethical questions since renal transplantation became possible 50 years ago. Nevertheless, living donors are a common source for badly needed organs in the pediatric population. The safety and well being of the living donor are important concerns. Among the risks of living donation are those of a psychological and social nature. To protect these donor interests, psychosocial evaluations of donors are done at some transplant centers, but there is a lack of consistency regarding standardization of the evaluation, the content of the evaluation, and the role of the interviewer. Goals of the overall living donor evaluation for kidney transplantation at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and the components of the psychosocial evaluation protocol in particular, are presented. The protocol’s strengths are discussed, including the standardization of evaluations for all potential donors; the broad spectrum of psychosocial domains assessed; the psychometric measures administered; the systematic handling of negative results and some donors’ desire to opt out; and the protection of confidentiality. Future directions with regard to long-term psychosocial outcomes and research protocols are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Nephrology, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, 34th Street and Civic Center Blvd., Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Kimberly Sterner, Nataliya Zelikovsky, Cynthia Green & Bernard S. Kaplan

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  1. Kimberly Sterner
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  2. Nataliya Zelikovsky
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  3. Cynthia Green
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  4. Bernard S. Kaplan
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Correspondence to Nataliya Zelikovsky.

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Sterner, K., Zelikovsky, N., Green, C. et al. Psychosocial evaluation of candidates for living related kidney donation. Pediatr Nephrol 21, 1357–1363 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-006-0177-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-006-0177-4

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