Kidney Transplant Project
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Improving Kidney Transplant Outcomes for Adolescents and Young Adults - A digital self-management approach
IRAS ID
240605
Contact name
Nithya Krishnan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
UHCW NHS Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 2 months, 5 days
Research summary
Studies indicate that a larger part of renal patients fail to adhere to their medical treatment regime with non-adherence rates ranging from 15% to 55%. This has severe consequences in terms of transplant rejection and graft loss. In addition to the medical and quality of life costs associated with poor adherence, there are also substantial economic costs. It appears that adolescents and young adult kidney transplant recipients are particularly at high risk for poor treatment adherence to immunosuppressive medication. Reasons for non-adherence remain speculative; however it could be due to their immature decision-making and the need to explore boundaries, which in turns affects their self-management abilities. This not only presents a challenge for their family members but also puts an enormous burden on the health care professionals who work with young kidney transplant patients. Altogether, this stresses the need for a better understanding and identification of adolescents and young adults (aged 16-30 years) treatment perspectives after kidney transplantation and what pre-treatment characteristics are at play. Furthermore, it is important to examine if there are differences in perspectives between adolescents and young adults. The current study aims to get a better understanding of adolescent and young patients’ perspectives which would enable health care professionals to develop more effective strategies in improving treatment adherence following renal transplantation. Data will be collected during a two and a half hour workshop using the KJ Ho creative thinking and problem solving methodology in a group of 8 to 10 patients. Younger patients (< 18 years old) will get the opportunity to bring their parents to the workshop. This qualitative research technique enables patients to articulate the key issues they encounter during treatment in a structured manner and thereby contribute to the evidence for designing future interventions.
REC name
West Midlands - Black Country Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/WM/0193
Date of REC Opinion
4 Jul 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion