Psychological and Social Preparation for Bone Marrow Transplantation

Abstract

Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is a treatment for some malignant conditions which is considered both physically and psychologically demanding. This paper considers the impact of an intervention aimed at encouraging patients to be more involved in their own transplant preparation. A social research design was used to explore the psychosocial impact of BMT. Qualitative and quantitative data collection methods were used to survey 25 intervention-group and 229 comparison-group respondents. After controlling for identified confounding factors, comparisons were made between these groups. Contrary to expectation, no statistically significant differences were observed between the two groups on the outcome measures. However, when matched for categorical confounding factors, the intervention group had statistically significant improvement on "preparation," "post-transplant problems" and "anxiety" measures. The intervention group were also found to have higher scores on the "helplessness" and "fatalism" scales. The qualitative analyses suggest that this may have been due to a combination of raised expectations and non-encouraging hospital staff. Factors contributing to poor post-transplant adjustment were identified, as well as less problematic experiences common to the majority of transplant patients.