title: Parental live liver donation: a transformational experience.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Parental live liver donation is an attractive alternative to deceased donation for pediatric patients with end-stage liver disease (ESLD), yet very little has been published about the long-term emotional consequences of live liver donations on donors and their families.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To better understand the impact that a parental live liver donation has on the everyday life of the donor.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirteen living parental donors from 2 West Coast transplant centers participated. Data included semistructured interviews, observations, and field notes about the donors and their physical, emotional, and familial lives since their donation. The perceived impact of donation on parental donors and their intrafamilial relationships are reviewed and the social and emotional context of parental liver donation, including impacts on the predonation decisions and life after donation are analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thematic analysis was used to analyze this set of interviews, and after open coding, 3 major categories emerged: a self-awareness process, a clarification of familial relationships, and a change in perspectives on community. The overarching theme that was constructed from the interviews suggested that the impact the donation had on the donors' lives was one of transformation.
authors.affiliation: Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, Palo Alto, California.
authors.forename: Annette Sue
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Nasr
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Francisco.
authors.forename: Roberta S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Rehm
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000523:psychology*; D019520:Living Donors / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic