How Thinking About the Donor Influences Post-traumatic Growth in Liver Transplant Recipients.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this work was to find out whether thinking frequently about the donor influences post-traumatic growth of liver transplant recipients. METHODS: The sample of 240 patients selected was made up of 185 men and 55 women with an overall mean age of 60.21 (SD 9.3) years. All of them had received liver transplants from cadaver donors. Transplant recipients were asked whether they thought frequently about the donor (yes or no) and filled out the Post-traumatic Growth Inventory. The t test for unpaired samples was applied to analyze how thinking frequently about the donor or not influenced post-traumatic growth. We also calculated the effect sizes by means of Cohen d or Cohen w depending on the nature of the variables analyzed (quantitative or qualitative). RESULTS: The liver transplant recipients who thought frequently about the donor, compared with those who did not, had higher total scores on post-traumatic growth (P = .000; d = 0.57; medium effect size). Furthermore, considering the effect sizes, the differences between the subgroups were more relevant on the following subscales: new possibilities (P = .000; d = 0.53; medium effect size), appreciation of life (P = .000; d = 0.60; medium effect size), and spiritual change (P = .000; d = 0.54; medium effect size). CONCLUSIONS: Patients who think frequently about the donor have more post-traumatic growth than those who do not.

Family Caregivers of Liver Transplant Recipients: Coping Strategies Associated With Different Levels of Post-traumatic Growth.

OBJECTIVE: Analyze the influence of 2 variables (post-traumatic growth and time since liver transplantation) on coping strategies used by the transplant recipient's family members. METHODS: In all, 218 family members who were their main caregivers of liver transplant recipients were selected. They were evaluated using the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory and the Brief COPE. A 3 × 3 factorial analysis of variance was used to analyze the influence that post-traumatic growth level (low, medium, and high) and time since transplantation (≤3.5 years, >3.5 to ≤9 years, and >9 years) exerted on caregiver coping strategies. RESULTS: No interactive effects between the two factors in the study were found. The only significant main effect was the influence of the post-traumatic growth factor on the following variables: instrumental support (P = .007), emotional support (P = .005), self-distraction (P = .006), positive reframing (P = .000), acceptance (P = .013), and religion (P = <.001). According to the most relevant effect sizes, low post-traumatic growth compared with medium growth was associated with less use of self-distraction (P = .006, d = -0.52, medium effect size), positive reframing (P = .001, d = -0.62, medium effect size), and religion (P = .000, d = -0.66, medium effect size), and in comparison with high growth, it was associated with less use of positive reframing (P = .002, d = -0.56, medium effect size) and religion (P = .000, d = 0.87, large effect size). CONCLUSION: Regardless of the time elapsed since the stressful life event (liver transplantation), family members with low post-traumatic growth usually use fewer coping strategies involving a positive, transcendent vision to deal with transplantation.

Evaluación del estrés laboral del personal universitario / Labor stress evaluation of the university personnel

Objetivos: Se realizó la evaluación de los riesgos psicosociales en la Universidad de Sevilla para establecer la prevalencia del estrés laboral, identificar los factores de la organización del trabajo que lo desencadenan y las variables demográficasy laborales que influyen en la propensión del personal a experimentarlo, valorar sus consecuencias y formular recomendaciones de cara a su control.Material y método: Una muestra de 315 casos represen-tativos de todo el personal de la Universidad de Sevilla, de forma voluntaria e individual, fueron evaluados mediante la Escala Laboral de Estrés, el Inventario «Burnout» de Maslach y la Escala Magallanes de Estrés.Resultados: La prevalencia del estrés laboral y del síndrome «Burnout» fue alta (14 y 13% respectivamente). La falta de recursos, la sobrecarga de trabajo, el conflicto y la ambigüedad de rol, y la superespecia-lización fueron los determinantes de dichas experiencias. La edad, el estado civil, el número de hijos, el sector en el que se trabaja y la experienciainfluyeron sobre la propensión a tener estas experiencias, cuyas consecuencias sobre la salud fueron de carácter negativo.Conclusiones: Se formulan recomendaciones dirigidas al desarrollo de programas de gestión y control del estrés laboral específicos para cada tipo de personal

Objectives: The evaluation of the psychosocial risks was made in the University of Seville to establish the prevalence of occupational stress, to identify the factors of the work organization that trigger it and the demographic and labor variables that influence in the susceptibility of the personnel to experienceit, to value their consequences and to formulate recommendations facing their control.Material and method: A sample of 315 representative casesof all the personnel of the University of Seville, of voluntary and individual form, was evaluated by means of the Labor Scale of Stress, the Maslach «Burnout» Inventory and the Magallanes Scale of stress.Results: The prevalence of labor stress and the syndrome«Burnout» was high (14 and 13% respectively). The lack ofresources, the overload of work, the conflict and the ambiguity of role, and the superspecialization was the determinants of these experiences. The age, the civil state, the number of children, the sector at which one is working and the experience influenced the susceptibility to have these experiences, whose consequences on the health were of negative character.Conclusions: Recommendations directed to the developmentof programs of management and specific control of laborstress for each type of personnel are formulated