“Can You Spare an Organ?”: Exploring Hispanic Americans' Willingness to Discuss Living Organ Donation With Loved Ones

Abstract

Living organ donation offers a means of overcoming the shortage of viable organs available for transplant: a shortage particularly problematic among Hispanics. One barrier standing between those in need of a kidney and a successful transplant operation is an inability, and often lack of desire, to talk to loved ones about the need for a living donation. With an eye on future intervention approaches, and guided in part by the theory of planned behavior, this research effort sought to explore the factors associated with a willingness to engage in a conversation about a living donation with loved ones. Study 1, a phone survey of Hispanic Americans drawn from a Hispanic surname list, reveals that while upward of 90% of respondents would be willing to offer a kidney to a family member in need, and a similar percentage would be willing to accept a living donation if offered, only about half of respondents would feel comfortable initiating a conversation with family members if the respondent was in need of a living donation. Study 2, a survey of Hispanic American patients currently in need of a living kidney donation, revealed that perceived behavioral control accounted for 60% of the variance in future intentions to initiate a conversation among those who have yet to speak to a family member about becoming a living donor. Moreover, perceived behavioral control mediated the relationship between perceived asking appropriateness and future intentions to initiate a conversation. Lastly, recipient outcome expectations, asking appropriateness, and subjective norms were revealed to be predictive of perceived behavioral control. Implications for future living donor interventions focusing on increasing recipient-initiated conversations are discussed.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This article was supported by grant # R39OT08451 (Deborah Maurer, PI) from the Health Resources and Services Administration's Division of Transplantation (HRSA/DoT), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The contents of this article are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of HRSA/DoT. The authors thank Petra Frey, Stephen Gross, and Jan Stein for their invaluable contributions to this project. Thanks are also due to Courtney Powers and Frances Butler for their input on proposal development.