African American and non-African American patients' and families' decision making about renal replacement therapies.

We conducted focus group meetings of African American and non-African American patients with end-stage renal disease (six groups) and their family members (six groups), stratified by race/ethnicity and treatment. We elicited differences in participants' experiences with shared decision making about initiating renal replacement therapy (RRT; that is, hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, or a kidney transplant). Patients were often very sick when initiating RRT, and had little, if any, time to make a decision about what type of RRT to initiate.

Protocol of a randomized controlled trial of culturally sensitive interventions to improve African Americans' and non-African Americans' early, shared, and informed consideration of live kidney transplantation: the Talking About Live Kidney Donation (TALK) Study.

Background: Live kidney transplantation (LKT) is underutilized, particularly among ethnic/racial minorities. The effectiveness of culturally sensitive educational and behavioral interventions to encourage patients' early, shared (with family and health care providers) and informed consideration of LKT and ameliorate disparities in consideration of LKT is unknown.

Methods/design: We report the protocol of the Talking About Live Kidney Donation (TALK) Study, a two-phase study utilizing qualitative and quantitative research methods to design and test culturally sensitive interventions to improve patients' shared and informed consideration of LKT.

Identifying and addressing barriers to African American and non-African American families' discussions about preemptive living related kidney transplantation.

Context: Ethnic/racial minority and nonminority families' perceived barriers to discussing preemptive living related kidney transplantation (LRKT) and their views on the potential value of health care professionals trained to address barriers are unknown. OBJECTIVE, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: To collect pilot data for evaluating perceived barriers to preemptive LRKT and to inform the development of a culturally sensitive intervention to improve families' consideration of LRKT. In 4 structured group interviews of African American and non-African American patients (2 groups) with progressing chronic kidney disease and their family members (2 groups), participants' perceived barriers to initiating LRKT discussions and their views regarding the value of social workers to support discussions were explored.

Race differences in access to health care and disparities in incident chronic kidney disease in the US.

Background: The contribution of race differences in access to health care to disparities in chronic kidney disease (CKD) incidence in the United States is unknown.

Methods: We examined race differences in usual source of health care, health insurance and CKD incidence among 3883 Whites and 1607 Blacks with hypertension or diabetes enrolled in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. In multivariable analyses, we explored the incremental contribution of access to health care in explaining Blacks' excess CKD incidence above and beyond other socioeconomic, lifestyle and clinical factors.