Family Caregivers' Burden, Quality of Life, and Health following Patients' Renal Transplantation

Abstract

Improved quality of life and physical functioning among renal transplant recipients have been documented; however, little of the literature has addressed the effects of transplantation on family caregivers. The purpose of this exploratory descriptive study was to characterize the level of subjective burden, quality of life, and self-rated health of caregivers who assist family members prior to transplantation as well as at 6 months following. The study sample included 19 caregivers of 19 renal transplant recipients. In general, caregiver burden, quality of life, and self-rated health did not improve following patients' transplants. In addition, 9 of 19 family caregivers reported increased burden. Because much of healthcare is family-based and greater reliance on family support seems inevitable, further studies are needed to examine the impact of transplantation on the family as well as the impact of the family on patients' posttransplant outcomes.

Predictors and Outcomes of Health-Related Quality of Life in Caregivers of Cardiothoracic Transplant Recipients

“…Furthermore, as the field of transplantation has advanced, the benefits of transplantation to the organ recipient have increased, both in the short term (e.g. fewer postsurgical complications, shorter hospital stays related to the initial surgery) and long term (greater posttransplant life expectancy, longer periods of good physical functional status and quality of life [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]) These benefits for the recipient might be expected to positively affect the caregiver's health-related quality of life (HRQOL) as well. Thus, one might hypothesize that caregivers would show high levels of HRQOL following their family member's transplant, with those levels becoming even better as the transplant recipient regains health across the first months and years posttransplant.…”

“…To date, most studies of caregivers' HRQOL after transplantation are either cross-sectional or focus on caregivers of kidney or liver patients (17,(22)(23)(24)(25)(26). Less is known about cardiothoracic recipients, and whether their HRQOL improves or deteriorates over time.…”

Qualidade de vida e estratégias de enfrentamento em pacientes submetidos a transplante renal

“…Estudos sobre adaptação psicossocial ao tratamento têm comparado a qualidade de vida entre pacientes (e seus familiares) em hemodiálise, CAPD e transplante (Blake, Codd, Cassidy, & O'Meara, 2000;Keogh & Feechally, 1999;Lindqvist, Carlsson, & Sjoden, 2000;Park, Yoo, Han, Kim, Kim, & Lee, 1996;Rebollo, Ortega, Baltar, Badia, Alvarez-Ude, & Diaz-Corte, 2000;Wicks, Milstead, Hathaway, & Cetingok, 1998). O caráter crônico desses tratamentos e o estresse associado aos mesmos estão freqüentemente relacionados a sofrimento emocional e transtornos mentais, que interferem na adaptação e adesão ao tratamento e requerem intervenção multidisciplinar (Newman, Steed, & Mulligan, 2004;Olbrisch, Benedict, Ashe, & Levenson, 2000;Wainright, Fallon, & Gould, 1999).…”

Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL)

“…(1) Obwohl eine NTx nicht für alle Patienten möglich ist, stellt sie die Behandlung der Wahl für ESRD dar, da sie dem Betroffenen eine bessere Lebensqualität (QoL) ermöglicht, als sie mit langfristiger Dialyse erreicht werden kann. (2) …”