Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Doctors should understand the psychology, behavior and will of the donors in order to avoid their psychological concerns before kidney transplantation and maintain a high quality of life after surgery.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the psychology, behavior, and will of living donors for kidney transplantation in Northwest China.
METHODS: Totally 200 donors received living donor kidney graft or not in the First Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Xi’an Jiaotong University were involved. This retrospective study was performed by an interview or telephone using a questionnaire. The 13-item attitude questionnaire was specifically developed from the literature review with coordinator, physician, and donor feedback. Donors were asked to rate the queries on a 5-point Likert intensity scale.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: In the results, 78.5% of the cases felt honor to be a donor, and 70.5% believed that donor was a hero. 79% of the donors thought that their relationship between the recipients could be improved after surgery, 73.5% of them hoped to find brain-dead organ donor, and 61.5% of them hoped relative donors. The results not only present the basic view of people in Northwest China to be a kidney donor, but also reflect the problems in living organ transplantation of China.