Psychological Well-Being of Living Kidney Donors and Recipients.

OBJECTIVES: Previous research has indicated that kidney transplantation is associated with longer and better quality of life and can also have psychological impacts to both recipients and living donors. This study aimed to examine the psychological well-being of kidney transplant recipients and living donors in the first Ethiopian kidney transplant program using a psychological well-being framework developed by Ryff. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All 82 kidney recipients and living donors who underwent medical screening for transplantation or living donation at the St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical Transplant Center between the establishment of the Center (September 2015)and the data collection end date (December 2018) were selected using medical records. Seventyfive recipients and 64 donors participated in the study. This study used a cross-sectional study design. Demographic questionnaires and Ryff's 84-item psychological well-being assessment were used. Collected data were analyzed through frequency, percentages, means, t tests, and analyses of variance. RESULTS: Approximately 83% of study recipients scored in the upper 3 quartiles for composite psychological well-being scores, and 50% of study donors scored in the middle 2 quartiles for composite psychological well-being scores, with roughly 20% in the highest quartile. We found no significant mean difference between recipient and donor subscales, excluding the Personal Growth Subscale, which showed a significant mean difference between recipients (mean [SD] of 69.01[8.39]) and donors (mean [SD] of 65.89 [8.84]). This study revealed no significant psychological mean differences between kidney recipients and donors regarding the demographic characteristics of sex, age, marital status, and education. CONCLUSIONS: Our single-center study cohort of kidney transplant recipients and living donors revealed overall psychological well-being scores similar to established transplant centers in other countries. Psychological well-being subscore data can provide meaningful information about the experiences of recipients and donors.