Living donor transplant education for African American patients with end-stage renal disease

Context-Despite numerous benefits of live donor kidney transplant (LDKT), patient-level barriers often prevent African Americans from considering LDKT. Educational interventions designed to address patient-level barriers may increase willingness among African American patients with end-stage renal disease to explore LDKT as a treatment option. Objective-To assess the effectiveness of a culturally sensitive educational inter-vention called Living ACTS (About Choices in Transplantation and Sharing) that was designed to address patient-level barriers to LDKT among African American patients with end-stage renal disease. Design/Participants-Patients were randomized to intervention (n = 136) or control (n =132) groups. They completed baseline measures and then viewed either the Living ACTS or control video. Both groups then completed an immediate followup measure and a 6-month assessment administered via telephone. Main Outcome Measures-Self-reported knowledge about LDKT, willingness to talk to the patient's family about LDKT, and perceived benefits of LDKT were measured at 3 time points. Results-At 6-month follow-up, intervention participants demonstrated a significantly greater increase in knowledge of LDKT than control participants (F-2,F-229=3.08, P=.05). Intervention participants expressed greater willingness to talk to patients' families about LDKT than did control participants from baseline through 6-month follow-up (F-1,F-230 = 7.11, P=.008). Finally, at immediate follow-up, intervention participants reported greater endorsement of the benefits of LDKT than did control participants (F-2,F-23=14.27, P < .001); however, this effect had disappeared by the 6-month follow-up. Conclusions Living ACTS is effective at increasing and maintaining knowledge about LDKT among African American patients with end-stage renal disease who are considering transplant. (C) 2014 NATCO, The Organization for Transplant Professionals