Emotional distress and quality of life in caregivers of patients awaiting lung transplant

• Published in: Journal of psychosomatic research 2005-07, Vol.59 (1), p.1-6
• Main Authors: Claar, Robyn Lewis, Parekh, Priti I., Palmer, Scott M., LaCaille, Rick A., Davis, R. Duane, Rowe, Sarah K., Babyak, Michael A., Blumenthal, James A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological; Adult; Anxiety; Biological and medical sciences; Caregiver Burden; Caregivers; Caregivers - psychology; Carers; Coping; Cross-Sectional Studies; Depression; Emotions; Family environment. Family history; Female; Humans; Lung transplantation; Lung Transplantation - psychology; Lungs; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Quality of Life; Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry; Stress, Psychological; Transplants; Waiting Lists
• ISSN: 0022-3999; 1879-1360
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2005.03.007

The aims of this study are to characterize the levels of emotional distress and quality of life among caregivers of lung transplant candidates and to examine the relation of coping styles and perceived caregiver burden to caregivers' self-reported emotional distress. A consecutive series of primary caregivers of potential lung transplant candidates completed a battery of psychosocial measures, including the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Medical Coping Modes Questionnaire (MCMQ), Scale for Caregiver Burden (SCB), and Medical Outcomes Survey, Short Form-36 (SF-36). Only 12 of the 82 caregivers (14.6%) who volunteered for the study reported clinically significant levels of depression (BDI-II ≥14), and only 2 caregivers (2.4%) reported clinically significant levels of anxiety (STAI ≥60). Passive coping strategies were associated with higher levels of emotional distress; specifically, resignation was associated with increased depression ( r=.27, P