Renal transplantation: long-term adaptation and the children's own reflections

Twenty children, 9-19 yr of age, having undergone renal transplantation, were interviewed (according to a semi-structured inquiry manual) with the aim of investigating their emotional and psychosocial adaptation. The children reported about a rather unaffected life considering the circumstances. Few of them described a negative identity in the form of feeling sick or different, and their experienced limitations appeared to be moderate. Anxiety about the future was more salient, but nevertheless the children seemed to have found a good way of living with this anxiety. When comments were made on the relationship to the donor, they were of a positive character; the relationship had been improved by the donation. Only one child - who had received a kidney from a deceased person - described fantasies of the alien kidney of a markedly unpleasant character. The psychological adaptation of the children frequently seemed to imply the use of potentially dysfunctional defense mechanisms like denial and avoidance.