Psychosocial Aspects in patients with thalassemia in the transition to adult life: a follow-up study / Aspectos psicossociais em portadores de talassemia na transição para a vida adulta: um estudo de seguimento
AUTOR(ES)
Veronika de Britto Slavec
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO
2008
RESUMO
Thalassemia is a genetic disorder characterized by total or partial suppression of hemoglobin production. Its important psychological and social implications are acknowledged, and the how patient and family deal with the disease can have a critical effect on the patients life. This study aims to identify the psychosocial conditions and quality of life of young patients with thalassemia in two moments of life: adolescence (between 15 and 21 years) and beginning of adult life (between 22 and 28 years). It is a field research, prospective, descriptive and exploratory study with quantitative, qualitative approach, carried out in a hemotherapy center in a city in the interior of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Sample composed of 10 patients, both genders, aged between 22 and 28 years, with thalassemia major. The following instruments were applied in the two phases: Semi-structured interview, Quality of Life Scale - Medical Outcomes Short- Form Health Survey (SF-36), Lipps Inventory of Stress Symptoms in Adults, Levensons Multidimensional Locus of Control Scale, Hospital Anxiety and depression (HAD) scale, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Analysis of the objective results complied to criteria defined by analytical instruments. The interviews analysis was based on the thematic characterization of the reports content. The results indicate that in the first moment of evaluation, the quality of life social aspect was the one most preserved whereas the physical aspect was the most harmed. In the second moment, the social aspect was kept as the most preserved, whereas the Emotional one became the most harmed. All patients presented stress symptoms in the two moments evaluated. In the first stage, half of them were in the resistance phase and in the second stage, six of them were in this phase when the organism try to adapt to the stressor event, predominating a feeling of exhaustion. Attribution of causality in the first stage was predominantly externality-chance, which reached the whole sample in the second moment. In the first stage, HAD allowed to identify one participant with subclinical depression and three with subclinical anxiety, whereas nine presented depressive symptoms and all of them had anxiety manifestations. In the second moment, two participants presented subclinical anxiety and one subclinical depression, whereas two did not manifest depressive symptoms. In the first moment, BDI showed that despite all participants had presented depressive symptoms, there was no depression installed, whereas in the second moment, the instrument revealed there was one participant with depression while the remaining presented depressive symptoms. The interviews results complemented the analytical instruments. The comparative analysis of results in the two moments of evaluation suggests decreased quality of life in the transition to the adult life, as well as relevant increase of psychic symptoms in some of them, justifying the need of including systematic psychological follow-up to patients with thalassemia.
ASSUNTO(S)
qualidade de vida chronic disease mental health thalassemia saúde mental quality of life doença crônica talassemia
