Abstract

• The purpose of this study was to present basic data in the nursing practice for the management of living kidney donor by understanding the nature and meaning of kidney donors, experiences. The research subjects were 11 living kidney donors who had donated from Mar. 1991 to Feb. 1994 and discharged from the 3 hospitals in Pusan. Data has been collected by intensive interview with donors. The data analysis has made by phenomenological method of Van Kaam for understanding the phenomenon and meaning of their experiences. The experiences of kidney donors were analyzed into the 4 situations, that is, 'motivation of kidney donor', 'decision time to make kidney donation', 'pre-opperation', 'after donation'. The descriptive expression and common elements were drawn from original data of each situation on the basis of subjects' own words. From each situation, the common elements of kidney donors' experiences were integrated, summarized and described as follows; 1. Motivation of kidney donation They wanted to donate their kidney because of empathy of pain on the groung of love to the recipient and with exppectation of successful kidney transplant or as a solution of economic difficulty. 2. Experiences in deciding to make kidney donation In deciding to make kidney donation, donors had love toward the recipients. But they experienced conflict too. 3. Experiences before being operated on donated kidney In experiences from deciding to make kidney donation to preoperation, donors had love toward the recipients. But they also felt anxiety or dissatisfaction. Therefore, they controlled their mind by their faith, support of medical staff or support of society. And they experienced regret for the sociological cognition or financial apprehension. 4. Experiences after kidney donation After kidney donation, donors experienced satisfaction and accompplishment in spite of mental and physical discomfortness, while they felt sense of loss/disappointment, repentance, regret, and apprehension of progress toward their condition. Thus, kidney donors donated their kidney on the ground of empathy and love to the recipient and with expectation of successful kidney transplant. But during the process of kidney donation, they experienced conflict, love, anxiety, regret, apprehension of economy. And after donation, they felt sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, while they felt sense of discomfortness, loss/disappointment, regret, repentance, or apprehension of progress toward their condition. This result contribute to nurses' role not only for the management of living kidney donors but also for the management of cadaver donors' family.

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