title: Predonation psychosocial evaluation of living kidney and liver donor candidates: a systematic literature review.
abstract: Evaluating a person's suitability for living organ donation is crucial, consisting not only of a medical but also of a thorough psychosocial screening. We performed a systematic literature review of guidelines, consensus statements, and protocols on the content and process of psychosocial screening of living kidney and liver donor candidates. We searched PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and PsycINFO until June 22, 2011, following the PRISMA guidelines, complemented by scrutinizing guidelines databases and references of identified publications. Thirty-four publications were identified, including seven guidelines, six consensus statements, and 21 protocols or programs. Guidelines and consensus statements were inconsistent and lacked concreteness for both their content and process, possibly explaining the observed variability in center-specific evaluation protocols and programs. Overall, recommended screening criteria are not evidence-based and an operational definition of the concept "psychosocial" is missing, causing heterogeneity in terminology. Variation also exists on methods used to psychosocially evaluate potential donors. The scientific basis of predonation psychosocial evaluation needs to be strengthened. There is a need for high-quality prospective psychosocial outcome studies in living donors, a uniform terminology to label psychosocial screening criteria, and validated instruments to identify risk factors.
authors.affiliation: Health Services and Nursing Research, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Heart Transplant Program, University Hospitals of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Duerinckx
authors.forename: Lotte
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Timmerman
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van Gogh
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van Busschbach
authors.forename: Sohal Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Ismail
authors.forename: Emma K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Massey
authors.forename: Fabienne
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dobbels
mesh_terms: D003245:Consensus Statements as Topic; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000523:psychology*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000523:psychology*; D019520:Living Donors / Q000523:psychology*; D009042:Motivation; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011594:Psychometrics; D012306:Risk; D012944:Social Support; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000941:ethics
keywords: kidney transplantation; liver transplantation; living donor transplantation; psychosocial screening; systematic review