General health of kidney donors: Implementation of Continuous Care Model

Due to the increasing number of live kidney transplant donors, there is a demand for more comprehensive care programs to promote health and reduce complications of surgery and organ harvesting. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the continuous care model on the general health of kidney donors. In the quasi-randomized controlled trial study, 55 kidney donors participated from three kidney transplant centers in Isfahan, Tehran, and Shiraz in 2019-2020. Samples were selected by the convenience sampling methods and then randomly divided into experimental (n=25) or control (n=30) groups. The data collection tool included a demographic information questionnaire and Goldberg general health questionnaire. The continuous care model was implemented for the experimental group and the control group received routine interventions. Data analysis was undertaken by Man-Whitney as well as Wilcoxon rank sum tests to compare mean difference between scores before and after the interventions. Significance level was defined 0.5 in this research. Statistical calculations were performed by SPSS (Version 22). According to the outcomes of the study, from 55 participants, 20 were women (36.34%) and 35 men (63.66%).Majority of the participants aged 29-38 , and financial problems were the leading reason of donation in most cases( 8/81).the mean of the general health score had no significant difference before intervention in the two groups of experimental and control (45.16 vs 45.73, P=0.898). Yet, Mann-Whitney test showed a significant increase in the general health of the experimental group than the control group (19.40 vs 42.97, P < .001). Continuous care model has the potential as a management strategy for increasing the general health of kidney donors. Therefore, it is recommended to use this care model for donors who are often unable to spend additional costs to improve the quality of their health.