Lung Transplant Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Lung Transplant, including details on risks, prognosis, procedure, surgery, organ donation.

A randomized evaluation of quality-of-life therapy with patients awaiting lung transplantation.

Rodrigue JR, Baz MA, Widows MR, Ehlers SL

Center for Behavioral Health Research in Organ Transplantation and Donation, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA. jrodrigu@phhp.ufl.edu

Research shows that patients wait-listed for lung transplantation have very poor quality of life (QOL). This study evaluated the effectiveness of Quality-of-Life Therapy (QOLT) in improving QOL, mood disturbance and social intimacy in adults awaiting lung transplantation. Thirty-five adults were randomized to QOLT (n = 17) or supportive therapy (ST; n = 18) and received individual, telephone-based treatment sessions. QOL, mood and social intimacy assessments were conducted at baseline and at 1 and 3 months after treatment. Repeated measures analyses of variance showed significant Condition x Time interaction effects for all three primary outcome measures. Subsequent post hoc analyses showed that the two groups did not differ significantly at baseline, but did differ significantly at the 1- and 3-month follow-up assessments. When compared to ST patients, QOLT patients had significantly higher QOL scores at the 1- and 3-month assessments, lower mood disturbance scores at the 3-month assessment, and higher social intimacy scores at the 1-month assessment. Results indicate that a patient's QOL, mood state and relationship with the primary caregiver can be positively impacted by a brief psychological intervention prior to lung transplantation.

Published 15 September 2005 in Am J Transplant, 5(10): 2425-32.
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