# Social Network Interventions to Reduce Race Disparities in Living Kidney Donation

> **NIH NIH R01** · PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, THE · 2020 · $235,208

## Abstract

Project Summary
 End stage renal disease (ESRD) is among the ten leading causes of death for Americans, and its incidence and prevalence
are rising, especially among non-White groups. Kidney transplantation is the most effective treatment option for many
Americans, but the number of Americans needing kidneys is currently much larger and rising much faster than current
transplant levels. Patients who seek transplants have one of two options: wait for a kidney from a deceased donor to become
available, or obtain a transplant from a living kidney donor. Deceased donor kidney transplant levels are projected to grow
little over time, constrained by population aging and mortality patterns, but living donation donor kidney transplantation
(LDD KT) holds the prospect of substantial growth if healthy population members are willing and able to donate.
Unfortunately, there are large and persistent racial and ethnic disparities in LDD KT rates that compound disparities in rates
of ESRD. Prior research hypothesizes that differential access to healthy, compatible donors in candidates' social networks may
explain racial disparities in usage of LDD KT. However, a limitation of this work is that it focuses on those who are evaluated
for donation, not the many members of transplant candidates' social networks who could be evaluated for donation, but are
not. We propose a multi-center study to collect novel data on transplant candidates' social networks and to test promising
social interventions that could reduce barriers to LDD KT. Based on qualitative interviews and a pilot survey of 72 transplant
candidates we previously collected in a large transplant center, we suspect that the differential access hypothesis does not hold,
and that there are promising points of social intervention for researchers to reduce racial disparities in LDD KT. These pilot
data show large LDD KT underutilization for all candidates, and that Black candidates have access to promising living donors
at higher rates than White candidates. Based on these findings, we hypothesize that the primary barrier to eliminating
disparities in LDD KT and promoting greater utilization of LDD KT for all groups is social, not biomedical, in origin. In this
proposal, we will extend our prior work to develop and test evidence based, randomized social network interventions that will
target social barriers to LDD KT and follow up with candidate medical records to evaluate the efficacy of these interventions.
Specifically, we will compare a control group of candidates to those assigned to two treatments that we will pilot and test: a) a
search intervention where a subset of candidates is coached to approach promising family members that seem to be
underutilized based on our pilot data, and b) a rhetorical intervention where we encourage a subset of candidates to use scripts
for discussing transplantation with family members that we find to be effective in survey vignette experiments and focus
groups. With eigh...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9920706
- **Project number:** 5R01DK114888-04
- **Recipient organization:** PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, THE
- **Principal Investigator:** Jonathan Kyle Daw
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $235,208
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-08-01 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9920706

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9920706, Social Network Interventions to Reduce Race Disparities in Living Kidney Donation (5R01DK114888-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9920706. Licensed CC0.

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