Introduction: Although all living kidney donors are offered yearly reviews post-transplant, the restricted contact time and medical focus limits understanding of the motivations and experiences of the subset who donate altruistically. We surveyed all altruistic kidney donors at one centre, to better understand what leads people to donate in this way, their satisfaction with the process, and how best to support them before and after donation.

Methods: A 10 question survey was posted out to all altruistic kidney donors (n=35) whose donation took place at one renal transplant unit since 2006. Respondents could choose to reply by post or online. The survey used 5-point Likert scales to cover satisfaction with outcome, the standard of care received before and after transplant, and the influence of donation on wellbeing and relationships. Free text responses were sought to describe motivations, what improvements to care could be made, what contact they received from the recipient and how they felt about this contact or lack of it.

Results: We received to date 25 responses, (71% response rate). Explicitly altruistic motivations were commonly reported, with 74% of respondents stating that they wanted to help, be of use or do some good for the life of another. Respondents were unanimous in declaring no regrets about donation. All respondents rated highly the care they received before donation transplant, although 35% thought they could have been better supported by the transplant team post-transplant. 63% of donors received contact from the recipient, which made a substantial positive impact. All respondents considered donation to have either improved their wellbeing to some extent, or to have made no overall difference.

Discussion:

It is encouraging that none of the donors regretted the decision to donate, nor did any consider the donation to have influenced their wellbeing in a negative way. The positive impact of receiving contact from the recipient was noted by all individuals in this position, and has implications for the advice given to recipients of altruistically donated kidneys. The expectations of post-donation care may well have differed between individuals, accounting for some differences in satisfaction, but the reasons for this should be explored further.

CITATION INFORMATION: Burge R, Potts S, Lundie S. Altruistic Kidney Donation: From the Donor's Perspetive. Am J Transplant. 2016;16 (suppl 3).

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