Table 3.

Content shared by donors, recipients, and family around open-ended prompts.

Prompts by story guide		Examples of storytelling content shared
Living donor
	The best advice I could give someone else who is thinking about being a living donor is...	“...just go ahead and ask questions. Talk to the transplant team. Let them decide, let the coordinators decide, do their screenings, do their questions. See if you are a likely candidate. You never know. I donated, maybe you can too.” (Lisa H)
	I ultimately decided to donate a kidney because	“Of course, there was nothing I wouldn't do to save my daughter's life. But, also, because the quicker she got off the [wait] list, the quicker someone else would get an opportunity.” (Luther)
	The best moment after my surgery was...	“About 4 days later, when I was visiting Lexi again. I saw how much happier and healthier she was [...] just seeing how good she was feeling really made me feel great.” (Luther)
Kidney recipient
	My kidney failure began when I was (X) years old. At that time, I was doing (common activities for you before the transplant)...but then I started to notice (changes that affected your daily life)	“Kidney failure began when I was 25 years old, I was at stage 3. My kidney function was at about 40%. When I turned 31, and I became pregnant, that is when I become stage 5. My kidney function went from 40% functioning to about 8% functioning.” (Kara)
	Living without working kidneys meant that... The first time I had a dialysis treatment was... (explain how it felt)	“It meant that my time was limited. My disease started when I was 27, when I was 45, my kidney function has dropped to 9%. I felt defeated. A lot of the people that I talked to on my first day on dialysis had been coming there for 5 years.” (Rochelle)
	I found it... (difficult /easy) to talk about living donation with my family and friends, because...	“Found it easy to talk to about living donation with my friends and family. Because of living donation, I am alive today. So, I talk about it openly.” (Holly)
Family member
	We learned as a family what kidney failure meant physically for (Recipient). However, for our family it also... (Explain the ways it changed your family’s life)...	“…For our family it meant a huge lifestyle change. It was a huge financial burden for our family. It was mentally draining for my parents especially. I was 15 at the time, so, I didn't really grasp Hans's situation.” (Drea)
	Some of the best resources I used to learn about kidney disease were...	“Living through Hans's situation as a family member. I was 14-15 when his life on dialysis began. It was an in-person, real life, first-hand experience.” (Drea)
	(Recipient's) dialysis schedule meant that we had to change our current plans because...	“Changed our family's plans for traveling. We like to travel a lot. It changed drastically. We hated going and having him left out. So, we worked around it and there were days that he didn't feel so great. So, dialysis sucks. Period.” (Annamarie)