Improving Health Equity: Increasing Access to Living Donor Kidney Transplantation Among Chinese Canadians

Principal Investigator: S. Anthony
Co-Investigators: I. Mucsi, P. Neves, S. Abbey, L. Wright, R. Parekh, K. Fung.


Ethnocultural inequities in access to living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) have been described both globally and within the Canadian context. Chinese Canadians are the largest visible minority population in Canada with an increased risk of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) but have markedly reduced access to LDKT compared to White Canadians. However, potentially modifiable ethnocultural barriers to LDKT are largely unknown in this population. This significant knowledge gap prevents the development of effective, culturally tailored strategies to increase LDKT for this population.


Aim:
We aim to conduct a multi-site qualitative study to investigate the barriers and facilitators to LDKT among five Chinese Canadian participant populations: Chinese Canadian patients with ESKD, their caregivers, the larger Chinese Canadian community, and Chinese Canadian LDKT recipients and donors.

Methods: We will conduct semi-structured focus groups and individual interviews with the five participant populations in order to understand their perceptions and experiences of LDKT. Focus groups and individual interviews will be offered in English, Mandarin and/or Cantonese. The new knowledge generated from this study will establish recommendations to develop a sustainable, culturally tailored health promotion strategy to support Chinese Canadian patients with ESKD and support equitable access to LDKT.

Results: Pending

Webinar: Click here to access the video recording of the webinar in English. The recording is also available in Mandarin, Cantonese and Korean.

We hosted a webinar on Saturday, September 10 as a pre-event for Living Donation Week. The event was titled “Stronger together: What everyone should know about kidney disease, treatment and transplantation, & mental resilience”. The webinar was hosted by Drs. Kenneth Fung and Christopher Chan with Justin (kidney recipient) and Vivienne (kidney donor) Poy and Julia King (nondirected donor) joining for a panel discussion.

The idea for this event emerged directly from our research, as participants highlighted the importance of story sharing and normalizing discussions around kidney disease and transplantation in their community.

Knowledge Translation: Improving Access to Living Donor Kidney Transplant (LDKT) in the Chinese Canadian Community

Funded by: The Kidney Foundation of Canada