title: Telephone-based coping skills training for patients awaiting lung transplantation.
abstract: Impaired quality of life is associated with increased mortality in patients with advanced lung disease. Using a randomized controlled trial with allocation concealment and blinded outcome assessment at 2 tertiary care teaching hospitals, the authors randomly assigned 328 patients with end-stage lung disease awaiting lung transplantation to 12 weeks of telephone-based coping skills training (CST) or to usual medical care (UMC). Patients completed a battery of quality of life instruments and were followed for up to 3.4 years to assess all-cause mortality. Compared with UMC, CST produced lower scores on perceived stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and negative affect and improved scores on mental health functioning, optimism, vitality, and perceived social support. There were 29 deaths (9%) over a mean follow-up period of 1.1 year. Survival analyses revealed that there was no difference in survival between the 2 groups. The authors conclude that a telephone-based CST intervention can be effectively delivered to patients awaiting lung transplantation. Despite the severity of pulmonary disease in this patient population, significant improvements in quality of life, but not somatic measures or survival to transplant, were achieved.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA. blume003@mc.duke.edu
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Blumenthal
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Babyak
authors.forename: Francis J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Keefe
authors.forename: R Duane
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Rick A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Lacaille
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Carney
authors.forename: Kenneth E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Freedland
authors.forename: Elbert
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Trulock
authors.forename: Scott M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Palmer
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery; D016040:Lung Transplantation; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013534:Survival / Q000523:psychology*; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*; D013689:Telephone; D014850:Waiting Lists