AKF presents about kidney care barriers and resources at ASN's Kidney Week 2026

This week, staff from the American Kidney Fund (AKF) are discussing their findings from three studies as part of ASN's Kidney Week's poster sessions in Denver, Colorado. The abstracts explore social determinants of health (SDOH) and the reasons why people switch dialysis modalities, examine how an interactive AKF course has helped improve understanding of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and investigate how an AKF resource has helped break through literacy barriers to educate people about kidney transplantation. 

Learn more about the findings below. 

Housing instability and food insecurity among patients who transitioned from home-based to in-center hemodialysis: A national survey 

AKF sought to learn why some people switch from home-based dialysis to in-center dialysis, including whether housing instability is a factor. 

AKF conducted this research by sending out an online survey to people with a history of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) who received financial assistance from AKF. Key findings include: 

• Among the survey participants who reported prior home-based dialysis use before transitioning to in-center hemodialysis, 53% said they had unstable housing and 53% struggled with food insecurity.
• Food insecurity was noticeably higher among respondents with housing insecurity (70%) versus individuals who had more secure housing (34%). 
• Of the 102 respondents who gave a reason for switching from home-based dialysis to in-center hemodialysis, approximately 14% cited housing-related barriers, including risk of eviction, inadequate utilities, home safety concerns and landlord refusal.
  • People who switched modalities due to these barriers had significantly higher rates of housing instability (86%) compared to those who did not list housing barriers as a reason for the switch (48%). 

AKF's research shows that housing-related barriers can cause people to change dialysis modalities, and that routinely screening people on home dialysis for various SDOH may help identify those who are at risk of switching modalities. View abstract.

Focus group data revealed American Kidney Fund's interactive course is an effective tool and empowers patients

Having access to easy-to-understand content can help people navigate a new diagnosis; however, the attention span of an adult typically decreases after 15 to 20 minutes. To meet the needs of adult learners, AKF created Step Forward: Living Well with Stage 3 Kidney Disease, a mobile-friendly course that helps people better understand CKD in a manageable and interactive format. Within six months of launching the course, AKF organized a focus group to assess how effective it is. 

Feedback from the focus group showed:

1. The course provides a helpful introduction to CKD. 
2. The course is just the right length for participants to engage with the content.
3. Course participants planned to take what they learned and reach out to their doctor or share the course with people in their community.

These findings indicate that the Step Forward course can be an effective tool that offers valuable education about CKD in a way that works and is accessible for adult learners. In addition, the course encourages participants to take steps to better understand their kidney disease or teach others about CKD. AKF plans to use these insights to develop additional interactive courses on other kidney disease topics. View abstract.

AKF's new transplant resource addresses literacy barrier through education and empowerment for transplant candidates

While a kidney transplant is the best treatment option for people living with kidney failure, there are many barriers that can prevent people from getting a transplant. One of those barriers is limited health literacy, which is a person's ability to find, understand and use information and services to make well-informed health decisions for themselves or others. Although education is available to people who are considering getting a kidney transplant, these resources frequently contain language and terms that are complicated and difficult for many people to understand. 

To address this barrier, AKF created Your Guide to Kidney Transplant, a resource written at an eighth-grade reading level, for people who are thinking about a kidney transplant. AKF distributed the guide widely, and in October 2025 emailed a survey to AKF financial assistance recipients who received the guide to evaluate the impact that the resource had on them. The survey had questions on transplant status, readability, satisfaction, benefits and additional transplant education needs. 

Respondents indicated that the main benefits of the guide were that it increased their knowledge about the transplant process, gave them the confidence to speak up about their health and empowered them to talk to their doctor about their transplant status. Other key findings: 

• 80% of respondents were satisfied overall with Your Guide to Kidney Transplant.
• 84% of respondents thought the guide was easy to understand. 
• 87% of respondents shared that the guide gave them the tools they needed to talk to their doctor.

These results show that the guide is an effective way to address health literacy challenges and limitations in transplant education. AKF will use the same methodology to expand transplant education resources to further address educational gaps. View abstract.