Use of psychosocial concerns questionnaire in a sample of patients in different stages of liver disease

ABSTRACT

The aim of this work was to study psychosocial concerns in patients at different stages with liver disease using a simple questionnaire. Sixty-four [28 males and 35 females with mean age 51.8 SD +/- 8.8 years; only 12 [18.8%] were educated and all were married] liver disease patients were subjected to the Frankfurter Befindlichkeitsskala questionnaire [FBS] which was used to elicit their psychosocial concerns. 47 patients with complete investigation were classified according to child' s score of liver disease staging; among these patients, 15 were qualitatively assessed. The results revealed Child's score was estimated in 47 patients who had full data; of these 10 [21.2%] were in group A, 20 [42.6%] in group B and 17 [36.2%] in group C. As regards FBS, the most common psychosocial concern was feeling slow, followed by feeling tense and the least common complaints were feeling that drugs cause more harm than the illness and not confident to interact. Some psychosocial concerns were significantly associated with illiteracy, having non-governmental jobs, being a female and having children more than 15 years old. As regards Child's score, there was no significant association except for dreams that worry. Individual interview showed a more in depth exploration of these concerns. The results concluded that the nature and number of concerns are useful markers for psychosocial interventions in patients with chronic diseases such as liver diseases. Qualitative assessment is useful and meaningful tool to be incorporated in such studies. Multidisciplinary approach is needed for patient proper management in order to have a favorable impact on patients quality of life