Pre-donation cognitions of potential living organ donors: the development of the Donation Cognition Instrument in potential kidney donors.

Background: Cognitions surrounding living organ donation, including the motivation to donate, expectations of donation and worries about donation, are relevant themes during living donor evaluation. However, there is no reliable psychometric instrument assessing all these different cognitions. This study developed and validated a questionnaire to assess pre-donation motivations, expectations and worries regarding donation, entitled the Donation Cognition Instrument (DCI).

Methods: Psychometric properties of the DCI were examined using exploratory factor analysis for scale structure and associations with validated questionnaires for construct validity assessment.

Results: From seven Dutch transplantation centres, 719 potential living kidney donors were included. The DCI distinguishes cognitions about donor benefits, recipient benefits, idealistic incentives, gratitude and worries about donation (Cronbach's alpha 0.76-0.81). Scores on pre-donation cognitions differed with regard to gender, age, marital status, religion and donation type. With regard to construct validity, the DCI was moderately correlated with expectations regarding donor's personal well-being and slightly to moderately to health-related quality of life.

Conclusions: The DCI is found to be a reliable instrument assessing cognitions surrounding living organ donation, which might add to pre-donation quality of life measures in facilitating psychosocial donor evaluation by healthcare professionals.