Communication self-efficacy, perceived conversational difficulty, and renal patients’ discussions about transplantation

ObjectiveMany patients with chronic and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) have reported difficulties initiating and managing discussions about kidney transplantation, particularly live donor transplantation (LDT). Limited communication has demonstrable impact on patients’ access to transplantation, the duration of dialysis treatments, and the length of time awaiting a transplantable kidney. This formative study sought to identify the specific communicative and conversational elements impeding ESRD patients’ discussions about transplantation to inform the design of an educational program facilitating transplant-related discussions.MethodsFrom March to July 2012, semi-structured telephone interviews (n = 63) were conducted with ESRD patients waitlisted for kidney transplantation at one mid-Atlantic transplant center.ResultsAlthough 85.7% (n = 54) of patients reported holding discussions about transplantation, qualitative analyses of open-ended responses revealed that the majority (66.7%) had limited conversations. Patients reported difficulties managing a variety of logistical and content-related aspects of LDT discussions. Moderate levels of communication self-efficacy were also found (mean = 19.2 out of 28); self-efficacy was highest among respondents having held discussions and was significantly related to perceived magnitude of difficulty handling conversational aspects.ConclusionResults support comprehensive communication skills training for ESRD patients awaiting kidney transplantation.Practice implicationsPotential topics to be included in such training are discussed.