ABSTRACT
Project Title: Targeted Intervention to Increase Living Kidney Donation

Principal Investigator: Lloyd E. Ratner, MD; Professor of Surgery; at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA. until July 2004, then at Columbia University, New York NY.

Principal Researcher: Amiram D. Vinokur, PhD; Senior Research Scientist; Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.

Primary Applicant Institution: originally Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA but moved to Columbia University effective July 2004.

Other Consortium Organizations: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. (ISR Survey Research Center, TransWeb, and Michigan Transplant)

Purpose/Research Questions: The goal of the project is to increase the number of living kidney donations. We will test the hypothesis that an intervention targeted to patients' and potential donors' stage of cognitive-motivational readiness to consider living donation will result in: a) a larger pool of living donors; b) increased willingness to consider and accept donation offers; c) increased numbers of donor evaluations; and d) more living donations. Based on previous research - see Give Life: The Transplant Journey.

Proposed Intervention: A standard (control) web site or targeted (experimental) intervention web site; based on the structure and content of 1997 "Getting a Kidney Transplant" Journey , but with updated and greatly expanded content, multimedia, etc. Built on success of Give Life: The Transplant Journey.

Target Population: Kidney transplant recipient candidates and potential kidney donors.

Geographic Location of Intervention Sites: originally Philadelphia, PA and Ann Arbor, MI, but only Ann Arbor, MI effective July 2004.

Length of Project in Years: 3 (30 September 2002 - 29 September 2005). A fourth year was added effective Sept. 2005, making the new end date 29 September 2006.

Award Amount: Total award (total for 4 years) is $1,022,088.

Outcome Measures: 1) Completed living donations; 2) Scheduled and completed evaluation of relatives/friends as living donors; 3) Implementation intentions regarding engagement of potential donors; 4) Increase in cognitive-motivational stage of potential recipients and donors to consider living donation; 5) Web site visits by potential donors.

Overview of Data Collection and Analysis: This randomized double-blind research study will recruit 720 transplant candidates to participate in viewing a web site with information on kidney failure treatment options. Patients will be randomized to either a control web site detailing risks, costs, and benefits of the various treatment options or an experimental group web site with the same content, but tailored to the cognitive-motivational stage of the patient in regard to living donation and targeted to their readiness to identify and engage potential donors. Patients may provide the web site to potential donors, who will also be studied. Blinded interviews will be done prior to evaluation appointments and at 6 weeks and 6 months post-intervention. The major analyses will compare the experimental and control groups to determine the effects of the targeted intervention on the living donation outcome measures detailed above.