Psychosocial Evaluation, Care and Quality of Life in Living Kidney Donation

The psychosocial evaluation for living kidney donation is the starting point in a process designed to both promote optimal care for prospective donors and protect donors from adverse psychosocial outcomes after donation. The evaluation and the process of conducting it are informed by research evidence on the nature of postdonation psychosocial outcomes, including physical, emotional, and social functioning components of health-related quality of life, as well as other elements such as financial burdens associated with donation. In this chapter, we delineate the domains to be examined in the psychosocial evaluation, and discuss the processes and procedures to be used to conduct the evaluation and report its findings. We consider implications of psychosocial evaluation findings for the care of both individuals who donate and those who do not donate. Additionally, we discuss donors’ postdonation psychosocial care needs and the ways in which such care, when combined with the collection of postdonation follow-up data, can inform the education and preparation of donor candidates during the predonation evaluation process. Finally, we review both qualitative and quantitative research evidence on the nature of psychosocial outcomes in living donors, risk factors for adverse outcomes, and implications of these data for clinical care and for intervention development.