Dissemination of the Donor Application: Utilizing Social Media to Identify Potential Live Organ Donors

Dissemination of the Donor Application: Utilizing Social Media to Identify Potential Live Organ Donors

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.

Inclusion Criteria:

• At least 18 years of age
• On the kidney-only or liver-only transplant waiting list at a collaborating center

Exclusion Criteria:

• Younger than 18 years of age
• Not on the kidney or liver transplant waiting list
• On multiple organ transplant waiting lists