title: Older adolescents' experiences living with a parent who is a transplant patient.
abstract: This descriptive qualitative study using telephone interviews and surveys explored how parental transplant status affected older adolescents. A sample of 8 adolescents (62% female) between 15 and 20 years old participated. Findings revealed "a normal life." Other themes were feeling the impact, worrying, coping, and keeping healthy. Parental transplant status had positive and negative effects. No evidence was found of signs or symptoms of depression. Transplant candidates' children worried about "something going wrong"; recipients' children worried about organ rejection. Most stated that parental transplant status did not influence career plans, jobs, or friends. Strategies and recommendations for practice and future research are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19140, USA.
authors.forename: Jane M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kurz
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D016377:Organ Transplantation; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D036301:Qualitative Research