Living kidney donor (LKD) follow-up is imperative to understand and monitor long-term outcomes after living donor nephrectomy, yet donor engagement with transplant hospitals post-donation remains low. Mobile health (mHealth) technologies have been shown to increase patient engagement in other populations, but LKDs represent a unique group because they are healthier than the average adult and may not view engagement with the health system as necessary.

METHODS: We surveyed 100 LKDs at our center about smartphone use, health maintenance behaviors, accessibility to health information, and attitudes toward mobile-based follow-up. We compared characteristics of those who did and did not perceive mHealth as useful for LKD follow-up using rank-sum and Fisher's exact tests.

RESULTS: Of the 100 participants surveyed, 94 owned a smartphone. Of these, 35 owned an Android, 58 owned an iPhone, and 1 owned a Blackberry. Overall, 80% of participants perceived completing some LKD follow-up on their smartphone as useful. There were no differences in age (p=0.7), years since donation (p=0.5), gender (p=0.6), or race (p=0.4) between those who perceived mHealth as useful for LKD follow-up and those who did not. Additionally, 79% of participants perceived accessing LKD information and resources on their smartphone as useful.

CONCLUSION: In our study, perceived usefulness of mHealth technology for LKD engagement was high. Future studies should explore the feasibility of implementing mHealth technology to design a patient-centered system to increase donor engagement.

CITATION INFORMATION: Eno A., Thomas A., Ruck J., Rasmussen S., Halpern S., Segev D., Henderson M. Patient Attitudes and Perceptions of Using Mobile Health Technology for Living Kidney Donor Follow-Up and Care Management Am J Transplant. 2017;17 (suppl 3).

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