Abstract:
Terminal kidney disease is a life threatening condition and cause for loss of hope to
affected individuals. It affects the individuals physically as well as mentally. The advancement
in medical knowledge and technology in transplant surgery has steadily
increased the number of kidney recipients. This offers hope for the new lease of life
and a wide range of perceptions and experiences with self, society and the new organ.
There is minimal research on perceptions and lived experiences of kidney transplant
recipients. This study explored the perceptions and lived experiences of individuals
with a kidney problem living with a kidney transplant in Shanghai, China. Five indepth
interviews were conducted with five clients. The participant’s age ranged from
25 to 45 years. There were three females and two males. Content analysis using
NVivo (11.0) software was applied in data analysis. The findings revealed improved
quality of life among kidney recipients; however the clients had low knowledge levels
on the condition as well as self care practices in the post transplant period. This
caused a lot of psychosocial stress in the clients. The post kidney transplant management
strategies should include effective education programs to increase awareness
on the condition and self care practices so as to reduce factors associated with
psychosocial stress in order to improve the quality of life for the clients in the post
kidney transplantation period.
