Home-based family intervention increases knowledge, communication and living donation rates: a randomized controlled trial.

Our aim was to develop and test an educational program to support well-informed decision making among patients and their social network regarding living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT). One hundred sixty-three patients who were unable to find a living donor were randomized to standard care or standard care plus home-based education. In the education condition, patients and members of their social network participated in home-based educational meetings and discussed renal replacement therapy options. Patients and invitees completed pre-post self-report questionnaires measuring knowledge, risk perception, communication, self-efficacy and subjective norm. LDKT activities were observed for 6 months postintervention. Patients in the experimental group showed significantly more improvements in knowledge (p < 0.001) and communication (p = 0.012) compared with the control group. The invitees showed pre-post increases in knowledge (p < 0.001), attitude toward discussing renal replacement therapies (p = 0.020), attitude toward donating a kidney (p = 0.023) and willingness to donate a kidney (p = 0.039) and a decrease in risk perception (p = 0.003). Finally, there were significantly more inquiries (29/39 vs. 13/41, p < 0.001), evaluations (25/39 vs. 7/41, p < 0.001) and actual LDKTs (17/39 vs. 4/41, p = 0.003) in the experimental group compared with the control group. Home-based family education supports well-informed decision making and promotes access to LDKT.

The Dutch donor registry: registration rate of hospital personnel, living kidney donors, and patients.

INTRODUCTION: In the Netherlands 13.3 million citizens were contacted by the Dutch donor registry to indicate whether they consented or objected to become an organ/tissue donor after death. Nearly 4.7 million individuals are now registered, which is a 35.1% response rate. We wondered whether kidney patients, living kidney donors, and health personnel would have comparable response rates. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 239 individuals were interviewed, of whom 52% indicated to be registered. The highest registration rate was found for hospital personnel (66%) followed by living kidney donors (51%) and patients (38%). In general, more women than men (57% vs 47%) had returned their registration form. CONCLUSION: In the Dutch general public the willingness to make their decision known during life to donate organs/tissue after death is rather low. Presumably motivated individuals (eg, hospital personnel and living kidney donors) scored significantly better, but even in these subgroups 34% and 49%, respectively, were nonresponders.