Further evaluation of a scale to screen for risk of emotional difficulties in bone marrow transplant recipients

Abstract

A study was designed to evaluate a scale screening for risk of emotional difficulties in bone marrow transplant (BMT) patients. Forty subjects were assessed before the transplant by an experienced BMT nurse familiar with the patients and immediately after hospitalization for BMT by two raters: a psycho-social BMT nurse and an independent researcher generating record-review ratings. The pre-transplant ratings were compared with emotional difficulties of patients during their isolation for BMT. A predictive value of emotional problems during BMT based on the pre-BMT assessment was found (rs = 0.57, P < 0.001). Main pre-BMT psycho-social characteristics showing a significant correlation with emotional difficulties during BMT included quality of affect, mental status and proneness to anticipatory anxiety. Such a scale can be valuable in anticipating patients' emotional difficulties at an early stage, where more time is allowed for careful planning of care and the patients can be involved in the management of their care.

The symptom experience in the first 100 days following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT)

“…A high level of worry was the most prevalent and distressing symptom reported by participants in this study prior to allogeneic HSCT, and at least half of the participants reported worry as a concern during the early transplant period. The emotional distress reported by allogeneic HSCT patients is higher than that of a normative sample [46] and has been associated with various negative consequences [4,[49][50][51][52]. Little is known about the factors contributing to emotional distress in patients following transplant.…”

Death, dying and emotional labour: problematic dimensions of the bone marrow transplant nursing role?

“…1988, Holmes 1991, Armstrong 1994), graft vs. host disease (Brown & Kiss 1981, Caudell & Schauer 1989), infection (Caudell & Whedon 1991, Wujcik 1993, Poe et al . 1994, Dunleavy 1996) and more recently, pain (David & Musgrave 1996), sexual functioning (Molassiotis 1999a) and fatigue (Molassiotis 1999b). This expanding nursing literature reflects a growing awareness that BMT is a uniquely challenging procedure which places considerable demands on both patients and carers.…”

“…1989, Andrykowski 1994, Zerbe et al . 1994, Molassiotis 1999b). Body image changes and rehabilitation have also been the focus of nursing research (McConn 1987Holmes et al .…”

The Transplant Effects Questionnaire (TxEQ): The development of a questionnaire for assessing the multidimensional outcome of organ transplantation — example of end stage renal disease (ESRD)

“…Typically the measures are tailored to study particular samples, such as kidney, bone marrow or heart transplant patients (Franke et al, 1999;Grant et al, 1992;Jacobs et al, 1998;Laupacis et al, 1993;McQuellon et al, 1997;Molassiotis, 1999;Parfrey et al, 1989;Park et al, 1992;Sutton & Murphy, 1989;Wirth & Barton, 1985) or designed to assess newly transplanted patients (Hayward et al, 1989). Typically the measures are tailored to study particular samples, such as kidney, bone marrow or heart transplant patients (Franke et al, 1999;Grant et al, 1992;Jacobs et al, 1998;Laupacis et al, 1993;McQuellon et al, 1997;Molassiotis, 1999;Parfrey et al, 1989;Park et al, 1992;Sutton & Murphy, 1989;Wirth & Barton, 1985) or designed to assess newly transplanted patients (Hayward et al, 1989).…”