The way organ transplant recipients depend on social interactions to develop and experience social health and well-being is similar to that of the general population. A transplant may result in a close to full recovery of health status, but the physical and social problems can persist in some patients. The focus on improving the recipients' social participation has therefore become an important issue. The purpose of this integrative literature review was study social function after solid organ transplantation, that is, kidney, liver, lung or heart. An integrative review was performed on studies that matched the selection criteria and published in peer-reviewed journals from January 2000 to December 2014. The information from the text was extracted and patterns of social function were categorized into different subgroups that were further looked at, and five categories emerged: 1) work, 2) education, 3) daily activities and leisure, 4) social adaption and 5) barriers. The key aspects of social functioning involve five vital domains, that is, work, education, daily activities and leisure, social adaption and barriers. Returning to work appears to be the most important for the recipients independently of the transplanted organ.
The aim of this study was to investigate the meaning of social adaptation among solid organ transplant recipients one year after transplantation. We analysed in-depth interviews from 16 solid organ transplant recipients by means of phenomenological hermeneutics. The informants comprised 11 men and five women with a mean age of 54 years, who had received a kidney, a liver or a heart. We found the organ recipients adjusted their everyday life in order to adapt socially and achieve a normal everyday life. The meaning of social adaptation comprised six main themes revealed by one structural analysis: being restricted, changing habits, re-evaluating one's body image, redesigning life expectations and life goals, enjoying and expanding the social network and being disappointed in others. We conclude that the core meaning of social adaptation is living a normal life. Social support can be emotional or instrumental and is highly valued when it helps the organ recipient to adapt and achieve normality.
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