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Objective Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a debilitating lifelong condition, which can impact many aspects of a person’s life. Experiencing CKD during adolescence is further complicated by the multitude of developmental changes that young people go through at this time period. There is limited research that examines the perspectives of adolescents living with CKD and how they make sense of their experiences. This poster presentation will display/illustrate how adolescents’ use metaphors to narrate their experiences of living with Chronic Kidney Disease. These findings were identified from a qualitative narrative study examining Irish adolescents’ embodied experience of living with CKD. Methods A narrative study using an ethnographic approach was used in this study. Multiple methods were used to engage with five adolescents (10–17 years) living with CKD over an 18-month timeframe in both hospital and home settings. Data was collected from participants through participant observation, informal interviews and participatory methods i.e. body mapping. The collective stories of the adolescents were analysed using Riesman’s approach to narrative analysis. Results The findings of this study reveal that adolescents use visual and textual metaphors as a strategy for communicating the complexities of living with CKD. Within their narratives, adolescents, used scientific metaphors (CKD as a‘black hole’ and ‘atom’), journey metaphors (Orbiting) and supernatural metaphors (alien or vampire) to portray themselves and their condition, and to articulate their experiences in ways that were meaningful to them. Discussion The findings of this study offer a unique contribution to knowledge by highlighting the fact that metaphors are essential to adolescents’ narrations about living with, and communicating about, CKD experiences. Understanding how adolescents communicate about and experience their chronic condition is critical to enable health care providers to appreciate CKD beyond its physical and medical context; thereby providing awareness of the personal implications of chronic disease management on young people’s psychological and social health and wellbeing. These finding have further implications for how health care providers might effectively communicate with adolescents about their personal experiences of living with CKD.

Objective Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a complex disease that requires lifelong treatment. Transplantation is the goal standard treatment, however; it is not without its challenges. While previous research has demonstrated that transplantation increases survival rates and enhances young people’s quality of life, little is known about the impact of kidney transplantation on adolescents’ self-identity development. This presentation will discuss the struggles that adolescent transplant recipients experience as they endeavour to incorporate a new kidney into their embodied self. These findings were identified as a predominant theme from a narrative inquiry of embodiment experiences among young people living with CKD in Ireland. Methods This study employed a narrative inquiry research design. Using an ethnographic approach data were gathered through multi-media approaches including: visual body maps (i.e. life-size human body images), oral informal conversations and observational field notes. Five adolescents (10–17 years) participated in the study, which took place over a period of 18 months as adolescents experienced living with CKD in both hospital and home settings. Results A nuanced finding identified from this study was a disrupted sense of self and identity arising from adolescents’ encounters with a foreign body part (i.e. kidney). Adolescent participants experienced a tension between their body, self and identity as a consequence of transplant surgery. They struggled to adjust to the presence of a foreign organ from a deceased donor and they were concerned about developing personality characteristics of the donor As one participant described, the kidney was not viewed as her own but was conceptualized as ‘a dead persons kidney’. Another participant described the prospective of acquiring the personal qualities or characteristics of the donor as ‘disgusting’. Findings also revealed that adolescents engaged in different individualised ways to cope with the transplanted organ. Discussion The findings from this study provide an understanding of the struggles adolescents endure as they attempt to incorporate a foreign organ within their bodies and the potential impact on their self-identity. Clinicians need to be aware that substituting kidneys with donor organs is much more than a complex technical procedure; it requires an amalgamation of ‘other’ and ‘self’. From a clinical perspective, a multifaceted and holistic person-centred care approach is needed to equip adolescents with the individual skills required to adapt to a new kidney.