AUTHOR=Becchetti Chiara , Zambrano Sofia C. 
  
TITLE=From graft survival to lived experience: a new research agenda in transplant medicine
  
JOURNAL=Transplant International
  
VOLUME=Volume 39 - 2026
  
YEAR=2026
  
URL=https://www.frontierspartnerships.org/journals/transplant-international/articles/10.3389/ti.2026.17264
  
DOI=10.3389/ti.2026.17264
  
ISSN=1432-2277
  
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.