Life Satisfaction and Burnout Among Heart, Lung, Liver, and Kidney Transplant Patients and Their Spouses

Abstract

Objective: While a number of studies have dealt with the psychosocial consequences of transplantation for patients, we know comparatively little about the strains faced by their spouses. The present study investigates the psychosocial health of transplant patients and their spouses, as well as the link between these groups' physical and psychosocial status, on the one hand, and their degree of burnout and level of life satisfaction on the other. Design: In a cross-sectional study, 121 patients and their spouses are surveyed by questionnaire following heart, lung, liver, or kidney transplant. Methods: The psychosocial parameters investigated in both patients and spouses are sense of coherence, quality of life, quality of the relationship, life satisfaction, and burnout. Results: Patients rate the quality of the relationship higher than their partners do, and they are more satisfied with the relationship than their spouses are (p < .001). Regression analyses show that patients' life satisfaction is associated with quality of the relationship. Evidence of a full burnout syndrome can be found in three of the patients and two of the spouses. Burnout in the case of both patients and their partners is associated with limitations in one's own sense of coherence and in one's mental and physical health (multiple R2 = 0.79 for patients and 0.76 for spouses). Conclusion: Because of the importance of the couple's relationship, psychosocial counseling should pay more attention to relationship satisfaction. Psychotherapeutic techniques should be used to improve the sense of coherence in both patient and spouse. Design In a cross-sectional study, 121 patients and their spouses are surveyed by questionnaire after a heart, lung, liver or kidney transplant.Methods: Psychosocial parameters investigated in both patients and spouses are sense of coherence, quality of life, quality of the relationship, life satisfaction, and burnout. Results:Patients rate the quality of the relationship higher than their partners: they are more satisfied with the relationship than their spouses (p < .001). Regression analyses show that patients' life satisfaction is associated with quality of the relationship. Evidence of a full burnout syndrome can be found in three of the patients and two of the spouses. Burnout in the case of both patients and their partners is associated with limitations in one's own sense of coherence and in one's mental and physical health (multiple R 2 = 0.79 for patients and 0.76 for spouses). Conclusion:Because of the importance of the couple's relationship, psychosocial counselling should pay more attention to relationship satisfaction. Psychotherapeutic techniques should be used to improve the sense of coherence of both patient and spouse.

The Handbook of Salutogenesis

“…A comparable picture was found with the patients' spouses, except for a negative correlation between the sense of coherence and the attitude toward the transplantation in terms of stress and anxiety (Götzmann et al, 2012).…”

“…No conferences on salutogenesis or applied research in this field have been held, although some conferences include a salutogenic orientation (GAIMH, 2000;Hochschule Luzern, 2012;White, Schouten, Berg, & Meier Magistretti, 2014). The Swiss National Science Foundation has thus far not funded a national program on salutogenesis, but several research projects addressing salutogenesis have received financial support (Götzmann et al, 2012;Gutzwiller & Wydler, 2005;Rimann & Udris, 1997). In contrast to other areas of health research (e.g., gender health and occupational health) there is no network for salutogenic research.…”

Predicting intentions and adherence behavior in the context of organ transplantation: Gender differences of provided social support

“…The items were rated on a semantic differential following the stem 1 Data from this research project have been published before. The paper by Goetzmann and colleagues [19] use the same sample while focusing on a completely different topic (i.e., burnout, sense of coherence, mental health and physical functioning in patients and their partners). The only common variable of this study and the above mentioned paper is relationship quality which is only used as a control variable in the present analyses.…”

“…About half of the patients (54.5%) did not work at time of the study. For a detailed description of patients diagnosis and medical conditions, please see [19].…”

“…This cross-sectional study was part of a larger project on the physical and psychological conditions of transplant patients and their partners (see [19,20] 1 . Inclusion criteria for patients were a heart, liver, kidney or lung transplant surgery at the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland at least 6 months previously, sufficient knowledge of the German language, and the willingness of a partner or spouse to also take part in the study.…”