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Reliability and validity of a new living liver donor quality of life scale

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Abstract

Purpose

To develop a living liver donor (LLD) quality of life (QOL) scale and test its reliability and validity.

Methods

We sent a draft questionnaire comprising 38 questions to 965 LLDs from five hospitals. To evaluate test–retest reliability, the questionnaire was re-sent 2 weeks later to some of the donors from one hospital.

Results

Of the 447 (54.5 %) donors who responded, 15 were excluded. Factor analysis of 26 items extracted 7 subscales; namely, damage from the operation, scarring, satisfaction, burden, after-effects, digestive symptoms, and lack of understanding of donor health. We analyzed construct validity on the basis of factor analysis and observed significant correlations among the seven subscales. Criterion-related validity was confirmed by significant correlation with the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey scores. None of the subscales showed unreasonable values. We evaluated the subscale reliability for internal consistency (α = 0.670–0.868, except for “digestive symptoms”, α = 0.431) and test–retest reliability (r = 0.749–0.918). The factor “digestive symptoms” needs careful consideration because of low internal consistency.

Conclusion

The findings of this study confirmed the reliability and validity of the LLD QOL scale, which can be used for quantitatively evaluating the QOL of LLDs.

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Acknowledgments

This study received funding from Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) Issue Number: 21792212).

Conflict of interest

We have no conflicts of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Health Science, Osaka University, 1-7 Yamadaoka, Suita City, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Yuki Morooka & Koji Umeshita

  2. Department of Surgery, Osaka University, 2-2 Yamadaoka E2, Suita City, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Koji Umeshita & Hiroaki Nagano

  3. Department of Surgery and Science, Kyushu University, 3-1-1, Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan

    Akinobu Taketomi, Ken Shirabe & Yoshihiko Maehara

  4. Hokkaido University Hospital, Kita 14, Nishi 5, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-8048, Japan

    Mayumi Yamamoto & Tsuyoshi Shimamura

  5. Department of Surgery, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3, Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima, 734-8551, Japan

    Akihiko Oshita & Hideki Ohdan

  6. Hiroshima University Hospital, 1-2-3, Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima, 734-8551, Japan

    Keiko Kanno

  7. Division of Organ Transplantation, Tohoku University Hospital, 1-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8574, Japan

    Naoki Kawagishi

  8. Division of Advanced Surgical Science and Technology, Tohoku University, 1-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8574, Japan

    Susumu Satomi

  9. Osaka University Hospital, 2-15 Yamadaoka, Suita City, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Kaoru Ogawa & Kuniko Hagiwara

  10. Department of Gastroenterological Surgery I, Hokkaido University, Kita 15 Nishi 7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-8638, Japan

    Akinobu Taketomi

Authors
  1. Yuki Morooka
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  2. Koji Umeshita
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  3. Akinobu Taketomi
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  4. Ken Shirabe
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  5. Yoshihiko Maehara
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  6. Mayumi Yamamoto
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  7. Tsuyoshi Shimamura
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  8. Akihiko Oshita
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  9. Keiko Kanno
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  10. Hideki Ohdan
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  11. Naoki Kawagishi
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  12. Susumu Satomi
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  13. Kaoru Ogawa
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  14. Kuniko Hagiwara
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  15. Hiroaki Nagano
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Koji Umeshita.

Additional information

This article is based on a study first reported in the Japanese Journal of Transplantation (with full reference in press). Because of changes in affiliations, some of the authors of this study differ from those involved in the first study.

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Morooka, Y., Umeshita, K., Taketomi, A. et al. Reliability and validity of a new living liver donor quality of life scale. Surg Today 43, 732–740 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00595-012-0476-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00595-012-0476-2

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