QUALITY OF LIFE PREDICTORS: HEART TRANSPLANT SPOUSES.
Contributors: Loyola University of Chicago.
Published: 1994
Number of pages: 239
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery.; Psychology, Clinical.
Description: A cross-sectional, correlational design was used to study factors that impact on the quality of life (QOL) of 85 spouses of heart transplant (HT) candidates. Spousal QOL was assessed using the Lazarus Stress and Coping model. The following tools were used: Spouse Transplant Stressor Scale, Jalowiec Coping Scale, Family Inventory for Resource Management, the Ferrans and Powers Quality of Life Index, a six-item rating scale, and a demographic data sheet. Spouses found stressors related to the HT experience as most stressful. Two-thirds of the sample felt that their QOL was good and three-fourths felt that they were coping well with the waiting for HT. One-third of the sample felt that the HT experience had a negative impact on their life and two-thirds felt that it had a positive impact on their life.

The following eight variables explained 72.5% of the QOL variance: the spouse's health, family resources for coping, better coping ability, the partner's health status, the overall level of stress, the total stressor score, the impact of the transplant experience on the spouse's life, and the overall effectiveness of coping strategies used.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-05, Section: B, page: 1800.

Thesis (PH.D.)--LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, 1994.

School code: 0112.