*Purpose: reemptive living donor kidney transplantation (pLDKT) offers many advantages for patients with advanced chronic kidney disease. However, pLDKT represents less than 1 out of 6 U.S. kidney transplants, with documented racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in utilization.

*Methods: Transplant: A Family Journey is a two-hour educational session for preemptive kidney transplant candidates, family, and friends held prior to initial transplant evaluation. A knowledge pretest was administered based on a validated end-stage renal disease treatment knowledge assessment converted to true-false format. The course information is presented by a clinician on treatment options, and then a prior living donor/recipient share their stories of pLDKT. Participants are encouraged to ask questions throughout. Study team members observed these courses and took verbatim notes of participants’ mid-session questions and later conducted qualitative thematic analysis on the question content.

*Results: Seven educational sessions were performed between December 2019 and March 2020 involving 56 patients and 92 family/friends at a neutral, non-hospital affiliated site. Pretest questions most often answered incorrectly included the topics of recovery time required for living donors, length of function for transplanted kidneys, average amount of time spent on the waitlist for a deceased donor kidney, Medicare coverage time post-transplant, and lifestyle changes required after living donation. Non-white patients more often answered questions on these topics incorrectly: “Surgery will not affect the donor’s ability to have children” and “Living donors need to take medication after they donate.” Additionally, 54% of male patients had misconceptions about insurance coverage compared to 30% of females. There were a total of 126 participant-generated questions asked mid-session, classified into six main categories (Figure 1) that can be used to guide future educational interventions.

*Conclusions: Pre-evaluation education directed towards pLDKT candidates and their family/friends elucidates patterns of misunderstanding which may be used to reduce disparities in access to pLDKT.

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