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Effect of social support and donation‐related concerns on ambivalence of living liver donor candidates
Author(s) -
Lai YunChieh,
Lee WeiChen,
Juang YeongYuh,
Yen LeeLan,
Weng LiChueh,
Chou Hsueh Fen
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
liver transplantation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.814
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1527-6473
pISSN - 1527-6465
DOI - 10.1002/lt.23952
Subject(s) - ambivalence , psychosocial , donation , social support , medicine , psychology , clinical psychology , social psychology , psychiatry , political science , law
Ambivalence in the decision‐making process for living liver donors has the potential to result in their experiencing a negative mental status. To promote donor candidates' well‐being, it is important to study the factors related to ambivalence. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore the ambivalence of living liver donor candidates and to investigate the effect of social support and donation‐related concerns on their ambivalence. A cross‐sectional design was used. In total, 100 living liver donor candidates who underwent a preoperative evaluation between April and October 2009 were recruited for the study. Participants completed a self‐administered questionnaire that contained items related to ambivalence, donation‐related concerns, and social support. The mean score for ambivalence was 3.14 (standard deviation = 1.8), and the median was 3. Only 7% of the study sample reported no ambivalence during the assessment stage. Ambivalence was positively correlated with donation‐related concerns (physical concerns, r = 0.39; psychosocial concerns, r = 0.43; financial concerns, r = 0.29) and negatively correlated with social support ( r = −0.16 to −0.33). Those with psychosocial concerns had significantly worse ambivalence (β = 0.29, P = 0.03), but social support mitigated ambivalence (β = −0.34, P = 0.01). When intimacy and social support were included in the model, the effect of psychosocial concerns on ambivalence became nonsignificant (β = 0.24, P = 0.08). Ambivalence is common among living liver donor candidates, but instrumental social support can mediate the negative effect of donation‐related concerns. Recommendations include providing appropriate social support to minimize donation‐related concerns and, thus, to reduce the ambivalence of living liver candidates. Liver Transpl 20:1365–1371, 2014 . © 2014 AASLD.