Quality of life in patients who underwent liver transplantations

SUMMARYQUALITY OF LIFE IN PATIENTS WHO UNDERWENT LIVERTRANSPLANTATIONSHavva ÖZDEM R (CANDAN)Nursing School of Dokuz Eylül Üniverstyhavva_candan@hotmail.comThis is a descriptive study and the aim of the study was to determine the quality of lifein patients who underwent liver transplantations.The study sample included 52 patients who underwent liver transplantation and werefollowed in the outpatient clinic at Dokuz Eylül University Hospital, zmir, Turkey.Transplanted liver tissues were obtained either from a living donor or cadaver. Inclusioncriteria were having sufficient cognitive functions, ability to communicate in Turkish, beingan adult, absence of orthopedic and physical handicaps and of neurological and psychiatricdisorders before transplantations and survival of at least 3 months after transplantation. Datawere collected with a form of socio-demographics and SF-36 Life Quality Scale. Socio-demographic variables and descriptive characteristics were analyzed with numbers,percentages and physical and mental health scores were analyzed with Mann Whitney U testand Kruskall Wallis test.The patients who underwent liver transplantations received mean physical and mentalhealth scores of 50.98±9.60 and 40.95±7.40 respectively. There was no significant differencebetween socio-demographics and descriptive characteristics and physical and mental healthscores (p>0.05). The results of this study were in agreement with those reported from otherstudies in the literature.It can be suggested that the quality of life has improved in liver transplant patients.However, further longitudinal studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm theresults of this study.Key Words: Liver transplantation, quality of life, SF-36 and nursing.