Identifying a set of technological features to aid decision-making for prospective live kidney donors and recipients

Patients with end-stage renal disease are often faced with choosing between dialysis, deceased donor transplantation or live kidney transplantation. Both kidney donors and recipients need more information and knowledge about live kidney donor transplantation (LKDT) in order to make that decision. This project aims at identifying and recommending appropriate information technology features to address the information needs of donors and recipients in live kidney transplantation and assist them in their decision-making. This project pursued four research objectives: 1) identify the decision-making process with a focus on the decision points, choices and barriers experienced by live kidney donors and recipients; 2) review reported uses of technologies to address the information and decision-making challenges and identify beneficial features; 3) review whether existing systems have these features, and 4) provide a recommended set of technological features which may effectively address the information challenges of live kidney donors and recipients and assisting their decision-making in the LKDT process. We found that potential donors and recipients preferred to use online tools in four main areas: information, communication, management and decision-making. Existing transplant-related websites in Australia provided text and video links, search, downloads, email and some social networking features but lacked guidance with the LKDT process.