Objective

Organ transplantation is the treatment of choice for patients with end-stage organ disease. From early on, the psychological perspective on integrating the organ has been of interest. As quantitative studies on organ integration are scarce, we aimed at evaluating this aspect in a large sample of kidney transplant (KTx) recipients.

Methods

For this cross-sectional study, 684 patients after KTx were recruited within the structured post-transplant care program KTx360°. To measure organ integration and donor relationship, a previously developed and published questionnaire (FOSP), generated explicitly for this purpose, was used. Associations with sociodemographic, medical, donation-specific, and psychological variables were investigated.

Results

Overall, more than 90% of the patients perceived the transplant as part of themselves; however, a small minority reported perceiving it as a foreign object. Frequent thoughts about the donor and the belief of having adopted some of the donor's traits were common (52% and 14%, respectively), specifically in living donor recipients. Higher anxiety and depression scores and reduced kidney functioning were associated with less ideal organ integration, while a more extended period since KTx and more perceived social support correlated with better organ integration. No association between organ integration and adherence, as well as organ integration and cognitive functioning, could be found.

Conclusion

Organ integration and donor relationship were unproblematic in most KTx patients. However, offering psychosocial support to those struggling with organ integration and donor relationship is crucial from a clinical perspective.

中文翻译：

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肾移植患者的器官整合——KTx360°子研究的结果

客观的

器官移植是终末期器官疾病患者的首选治疗方法。从早期开始，整合器官的心理学观点就引起了人们的兴趣。由于器官整合的定量研究很少，我们的目标是在大量肾移植 (KTx) 受者样本中评估这一方面。

方法

对于这项横断面研究，在结构化的移植后护理计划 KTx360° 中招募了 684 名接受 KTx 治疗的患者。为了衡量器官整合和供体关系，使用了先前为此目的明确生成并发布的问卷 (FOSP)。调查了与社会人口统计学、医疗、特定捐赠和心理变量的关联。

结果

总体而言，超过 90% 的患者将移植视为自己的一部分；然而，少数报告将其视为异物。关于捐赠者的频繁想法和采纳捐赠者某些特征的信念很常见（分别为 52% 和 14%），特别是在活体捐赠者接受者中。较高的焦虑和抑郁评分以及肾功能降低与不太理想的器官整合相关，而自 KTx 以来更长的时间和更多的社会支持与更好的器官整合相关。未发现器官整合与依从性以及器官整合与认知功能之间存在关联。

结论

大多数 KTx 患者的器官整合和供体关系没有问题。然而，从临床角度来看，为那些在器官整合和捐赠者关系方面苦苦挣扎的人提供社会心理支持是至关重要的。