A Randomized Trial to Reduce the Disparity in Live Donor Kidney Transplantation

The main purpose of this study is to learn which educational method is most helpful to patients and their family members when they consider whether to pursue live donor kidney transplantation.

Patients who are eligible for a kidney transplant usually get information in the transplant clinic about two types of kidney transplants - one where the kidney comes from a dead donor and one where the kidney comes from a healthy living donor. Patients are given this information by a transplant nurse or doctor and then encouraged to discuss it with family members and friends.

In this study, we are trying to see if changing how and where we give patients this information makes a difference in how patients and their family members think about live donor kidney transplantation. So, we are looking at whether getting the information in the transplant clinic - either alone or in a group - is the same or different than getting the same information in your home.

The study is only recruiting African American patients. This is being done because African Americans have a higher likelihood of developing chronic kidney disease and needing a kidney transplant than patients of other races. However, they wait longer for a kidney transplant and die at a higher rate on the waiting list because they are less likely than other patients to receive a live donor kidney transplant. We want to see which educational approach works best with African American patients and their families.