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Dissonant loss : the experience of donor relatives.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>11/1996
<mark>Journal</mark>Social Science and Medicine
Issue number9
Volume43
Number of pages12
Pages (from-to)1359-1370
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Narrative type interviews were carried out with a purposive sample of 24 relatives of organ donors. Relatives were recruited through 3 Regional transplant co-ordinating centres in England. The study examined in-depth the relatives': emotional reactions to the death and donation, perceptions of the decision-making process, assessment of the problems donation caused for them, as well as the benefits it provided. An understanding of what the experience meant to them was elicited, as was the identification of their needs. The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed. The transcripts were analysed using a grounded theory approach, based on the constant comparative method. Themes emerging from the data were named to form categories. Categories were defined and integrated around the central theme of the research to form an analytical version of the story. Donor relatives' experiences were found to revolve around a process of conflict and resolution. Their experience is explained as a theory of “Dissonant Loss”.