This study utilizes a web-based application to help patients on the organ transplant waitlist communicate patient's need for a living donor via social media and provide interested potential donors the opportunity to engage with the evaluation process.
Barriers to identifying a live donor include lack of education and hesitance to initiate a conversation about live donation. For these reasons, many transplant candidates are hesitant to discuss candidate's illness and are therefore reluctant to pursue live donor transplantation. The investigators hypothesize that utilization of social media to spread awareness about candidate's illness and candidate's need for a live donor will enable many transplant candidates to successfully identify live donors. In this study, participants will use a novel web-based application, called the "Donor App", to create and share candidate's story via Facebook and other social networks to assist in the search for a live donor.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
1,000
The Donor app is a web-based application that helps transplant candidates tell the candidate's story via social media in the hopes of identifying an appropriate living donor. Sample stories created using the Donor App can be found at www.thedonorapp.com.
Scripps Green Hospital
San Diego, California, United States
ENROLLING_BY_INVITATIONYale University
New Haven, Connecticut, United States
ENROLLING_BY_INVITATIONRush University Medical Center
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Potential donors identified
Number of potential live donors that come forward to the transplant center on behalf of the participant.
Time frame: Up to 5 years
Live donor transplantation
Number of participants that receive a live donor transplant.
Time frame: Up to 5 years
App utilization as assessed by number of participants with story completion and posting in the donor app
The extent of a participants story completion and posting will be recorded internally by the Donor App. The number of participants that complete stories and post will be counted to assess app utilization.
Time frame: Up to 5 years
The Donor App Implementation
Success of the Donor App across multiple institutions will be tracked by the number of participants enrolled and invited to use the app at each institution.
Time frame: Up to 5 years
This platform is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional.
Maine Medical Center
Portland, Maine, United States
ENROLLING_BY_INVITATIONThe Johns Hopkins Hospital
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
RECRUITINGWashington University in St. Louis
St Louis, Missouri, United States
ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION