Quality of life, coping, and mental health status after living kidney donation.
The main aim of the study was to explore well-being after donation. This retrospective, cross-sectional study of 161 living kidney donors (104 women; response rate 81.4%) who were aged between 32 and 80 years (x = 56.3; standard deviation = 10.9) included responses to standardized questionnaires concerning quality of life (QOL), coping, and mental health status. Most donors recovered fully from donation within 6 months (90.8%). Donor willingness to donate again (96.1%) was high. Their relationship to the recipient did not change (67.9%) or even improved (27.5%) in most cases. Donor QOL (as assessed by the Short-Form [SF]-36) did not differ from healthy norms. In 25% of donors, screening with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale revealed anxious and/or depressive symptoms above the clinical cutoff score. Donor predominant coping style with their recipient's renal disease was "active problem-focused coping." The component scores of the SF-36 correlated positively with sociodemographic and self-reported medical parameters, coping, and mental health status. Although living kidney donation again proved to be a treatment without negative impact on donor QOL, the results underlined the importance of screening for donor mental health status and coping both in the evaluation process and after the procedure.
Wiedebusch
S
S
Department of Medical Psychology, University Hospital Muenster, Germany.
Reiermann
S
S
Steinke
C
C
Muthny
F A
FA
Pavenstaedt
H J
HJ
Schoene-Seifert
B
B
Senninger
N
N
Suwelack
B
B
Buyx
A M
AM
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001007:Anxiety; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019520:Living Donors / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D009392:Nephrectomy / Q000523:psychology*; D011340:Problem Solving; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting / Q000523:psychology*