Living donor psychosocial assesment/follow-up practices in the partners' countries of the ELIPSY project

Abstract

Background: Living donor (LD) transplantation has increased recently, but psychosocial aspects of living donation have not been well characterized, as risk factors for the donors. ELIPSY is a project confunded by EAHC, seeking to develop a common methodology for all EU countries for LD assessment/follow-up in the psychosocial sphere (www.eulivingdonor.eu).

Objective: To evaluate current psychosocial LD assessment/follow-up practices among European centers for key aspects and differences between kidney and liver programs.

Methods: Within a timeline of 30 months, this phase of the project sought to identify current LD psychosocial assessment/follow-up practices. The final survey concerned two versions focused on the kidney and on liver transplant program. The survey took place in ELIPSY partner centers under their own responsibility. Each of the centers sent the survey to other ones performing LD in their country. Partners in the EULID project includes ones in the United Kingdom, Poland, and Romania. The results were analyzed separately for each program seeking to compare and define differences among them.

Results: The survey took place in 10 European countries including 65 centers with LD programs. Positive answers regarding psychosocial assessment/follow-up practices were obtained for 26 (42%) kidney and nine (38%) liver centers. Some centers perform several psychosocial follow-ups but did not explain their tools, whereas the centers that did explain the tools used the same ones for both programs.