Impact of organ transplantation in heart, lung and liver recipients: assessment of positive life changes.
OBJECTIVE
The majority of psychological studies with organ transplant recipients have examined negative psychological effects. This study aimed to further investigate the positive effects of organ transplantation and to construct a specific measurement instrument.


METHODS
The initial pool of 14 items for the Positive Effects of Transplant Scale (PETS) was derived from organ recipient interviews. A cross-sectional postal study included 87 heart, 46 lung and 193 liver transplant recipients. The PETS was subjected to principal components analysis (PCA) using varimax rotation, and associations with other measures investigated.


METHODS
PETS and an open-ended item about positive effects.


RESULTS
Coding of the open-ended item revealed that the majority of recipients attributed positive life changes to the transplant experience. PCA of the PETS indicated three factors that accounted for 58.82% of the variance. The 12-item questionnaire assesses improvements in: (1) life philosophy, (2) gratitude and (3) health. The total PETS scores exhibited adequate internal consistency and validity.


CONCLUSIONS
Most transplant patients report positive psychological effects, which suggests this may be an understudied area. The initial development of an assessment tool provides researchers and clinicians a way to assess the degree and nature of these life changes.
a Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Department of Psychological Medicine , The University of Auckland , Auckland , New Zealand.
Vinayak
V
Anand-Kumar
Mary
M
Kung
Liz
L
Painter
Elizabeth
E
Broadbent
D001294:Attitude to Health; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004644:Emotions; D015438:Health Behavior; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008019:Life Style; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000523:psychology; D016040:Lung Transplantation / Q000523:psychology; D016377:Organ Transplantation / Q000523:psychology*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires