*Purpose: There is a large body of research which shows psychological states can influence health and behavioral outcomes, yet in clinical practice, psychosocial states are often ignored. Two divergent mindsets of health have been identified: a “growth” mindset is the belief that health can be improved through consistent effort and a “fixed” mindset is the belief that health is unchangeable. Growth mindsets have been associated with positive outcomes in pediatric, medical, and surgical populations. Our aim was to determine if growth mindsets in pediatric renal transplant patients relate to psychosocial outcomes after transplant.

*Methods: Upon IRB approval, 43 adolescent patients completed a set of questionnaires at a routine outpatient renal transplant visit. Patients were asked to complete the Health Mindset Scale, the Health Locus of Control Scale, and a set of questions about medication compliance.

*Results: Overall, a growth mindset was linked to better reported medication compliance and less anxiety. Specifically, patients who held a stronger growth mindset reported that being careful about taking medication was important for controlling their transplanted organ (p < 0.05). In addition, patients who held a growth mindset were less worried about their blood tests (p < 0.05) and had a greater belief that the treatment was working (p < 0.05). Finally, a fixed mindset was correlated with believing that health was determined by outside forces, such as luck (p < 0.05) and their clinical team (p < 0.05).

*Conclusions: This study found that health mindsets were related to psychosocial outcomes in pediatric patients after a renal transplant. Specifically, a growth mindset, where health is viewed as something that is subject to improvement, was associated with reporting of better medication compliance. A stronger growth mindset was also related to less anxiety about the treatment. These findings might be influenced by the fact that a fixed mindset was associated with feeling less in control of health. Taken together, these findings indicate that health mindsets may play an important role in post-transplant care and future work should aim to explore ways change mindsets to improve outcomes.

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