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.

Diferencias psicológicas en pacientes con cáncer de mama según el tipo de cirugía mamaria / Psychological differences of breast cancer patients according to the type of breast surgery

Las pacientes con cáncer de mama pueden experimentar importantes secuelas psicológicas producidas por la mastectomía, considerándose la reconstrucción mamaria como un procedimiento reversivo de las mismas. Para conocer si la sintomatología ansiosa y depresiva, las estrategias de afrontamiento empleadas o la calidad de vida manifestada por las pacientes, difiere de unas a otras según el tipo de cirugía realizada (mastectomía unilateralo reconstrucción mamaria) se estudiaron 2 grupos. Un primer grupo formado por 36 pacientes sometidas a mastectomía unilateral (simple o radical modificada) y un segundo grupo constituido por 36 mujeres con reconstrucción mamaria postmastectomía (inmediata o diferida). Para la evaluación psicológica se empleó una Encuesta Psicosocial, junto a la Escala de Ansiedad y Depresión en Hospital (HAD), la Escala de Afrontamiento del Cáncer (MAC) y el Cuestionario de Calidad de Vida para Cáncer de la EORTC (QLQ-C30). En general, las pacientes mastectomizadas presentaron una mayor presencia de sintomatología ansiosa y depresiva que las pacientes con reconstrucción mamaria postmastectomía. Igualmente, las pacientes con reconstrucción mamaria emplearon estrategias de afrontamiento más eficaces y gozaron de una mayor calidad de vida que las mujeres mastectomizadas (AU)

Breast cancer patients could experiment an important reduction in psychological adjustment due to mastectomy. So, breast reconstruction is considered a procedure to reverse the sequels of breast mastectomy. Two groups were evaluated in order to determine if anxiety and depression symptoms, coping style and quality of life in breast cancer patients are different for each kind of patient, according to the type of surgery (mastectomy or breast reconstruction). A first group was made up of 36 patients with breast cancer who had undergone unilateral mastectomy (simple or modified radical) and the second group was formed by 36 patients with breast reconstruction postmastectomy (immediate or delayed). This study used a psychosocial survey, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD), Mental Adjustment to CancerScale (MAC), and The EORTC QLQ-C30 for the evaluation. In general, mastectomy patients showed highersymptoms of anxiety and depression than the breast reconstruction patients. In the same way, breast reconstruction patients develops more effective copingstrategies and reports better quality of life than breast mastectomy patients (AU)