title: Psychosocial predictors of adherence after liver transplant in a single transplant center in Portugal.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nonadherence has important implications for morbidity and mortality, reduced quality of life, and increased medical costs after transplant. OBJECTIVE; To investigate which psychiatric and psychosocial factors determine adherence after liver transplant.
  
  
  METHODS
  A group of 150 consecutive transplant candidates attending the outpatient clinics of the transplant unit of Hospital de Curry Cabral were studied between January 1,2006, and December 1, 2007. Among these, 84 received a transplant and of those 84, 11 recipients died, 3 received another transplant, and 8 refused to finish the study (62 patients remained).
  
  
  METHODS
  Before transplant, prospective recipients were assessed via the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory, and the revised Illness Perception Questionnaire. Both before and after transplant, patients were assessed with the Multidimensional Adherence Questionnaire.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Adherence to medication improved significantly from before to after transplant. This kind of adherence after transplant was associated with adherence to medication before transplant and high scores on the personal control dimension of the Illness Perception Questionnaire before transplant. Therefore it might be useful to focus on patients with poor adherence to medication and low scores on the personal control dimension of the Illness Perception Questionnaire before transplant in order to design interventions for them.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal. tellesdiogo@gmail.com
authors.forename: Diogo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Telles-Correia
authors.forename: António
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barbosa
authors.forename: Inês
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mega
authors.forename: Estela
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Monteiro
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery*; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011174:Portugal; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors