From graft survival to lived experience: a new research agenda in transplant medicine.
4 affiliations
- 1Graduate School for Health Sciences (GHS), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
- 2Department of Visceral Surgery and Medicine, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
- 3Hepatology and Gastroenterology Division, ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Niguarda, Niguarda Hospital, Milan, Italy.
- 4Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, ISPM, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Abstract
Solid organ transplantation has achieved remarkable improvements in graft and patient survival, making traditional biomedical outcomes alone insufficient to fully define transplant success. Thus, attention is growing directed toward patient-reported outcomes, quality of life, psychological wellbeing, treatment burden, social reintegration, and the broader lived experience of transplant recipients. These dimensions are often subjective and context-dependent making them difficult to capture through quantitative methods alone. Qualitative research offers a complementary approach by exploring how patients, caregivers, donor families, and healthcare professionals perceive and give meaning to transplantation. In transplant medicine, qualitative methods may represent a relevant resource. Despite its potential, qualitative research remains underrepresented in leading transplantation journals and is often limited by misconceptions regarding rigor, lack of methodological training, and lacking editorial know-how. Integrating qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches may help generate more comprehensive evidence. A new research agenda in transplantation should therefore move beyond graft survival to include lived experience as a central component of patient-centered care.
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BibTeX
@article{becchetti2026from,
title = {{From graft survival to lived experience: a new research agenda in transplant medicine.}},
author = {Chiara Becchetti and Sofia C Zambrano},
journal = {Transplant international : official journal of the European Society for Organ Transplantation},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/ti.2026.17264},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42898082},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - From graft survival to lived experience: a new research agenda in transplant medicine.
AU - Chiara Becchetti
AU - Sofia C Zambrano
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/05
JO - Transplant international : official journal of the European Society for Organ Transplantation
DO - 10.3389/ti.2026.17264
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42898082
AB - Solid organ transplantation has achieved remarkable improvements in graft and patient survival, making traditional biomedical outcomes alone insufficient to fully define transplant success. Thus, attention is growing directed toward patient-reported outcomes, quality of life, psychological wellbeing, treatment burden, social reintegration, and the broader lived experience of transplant recipients. These dimensions are often subjective and context-dependent making them difficult to capture through quantitative methods alone. Qualitative research offers a complementary approach by exploring how patients, caregivers, donor families, and healthcare professionals perceive and give meaning to transplantation. In transplant medicine, qualitative methods may represent a relevant resource. Despite its potential, qualitative research remains underrepresented in leading transplantation journals and is often limited by misconceptions regarding rigor, lack of methodological training, and lacking editorial know-how. Integrating qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches may help generate more comprehensive evidence. A new research agenda in transplantation should therefore move beyond graft survival to include lived experience as a central component of patient-centered care.
SN - 0934-0874
SN - 1432-2277
ER -