Highlights
- •Organ transplantation is a very stressful and complex process for children as well as their parents.
- •The perceived social support score of the parents was low while parents' loneliness level was high.
- •The depression and anxiety levels of the parents were found to be moderate and high, respectively.
- •There was negative correlation between parental social support and depression, loneliness, anxiety.
- •Nurses can reduce the anxiety, loneliness and depression of parents, by strengthening their social support systems.
Abstract
Background
The aim of this study was to describe parental psychosocial outcomes following paediatric
liver transplantation and the relationship between parental psychosocial outcomes
and social support.
Method
This is a correlational, descriptive study conducted between April 2021 and October
2021 in the paediatric hepatology polyclinics of the liver transplantation institute
of a university hospital. The SPSS 25 and AMOS 23 package programmes were used to
perform data analyses.
Results
Data analysis revealed that the parents' social support level was low (44.6 ± 14.8),
while their levels of trait anxiety (51.5 ± 4.8) and loneliness (48.5 ± 5.4) were
high, and their depression level was moderate (26.4 ± 5.8). Established structural
equation modelling demonstrated that the social support parents received had a significant
effect on their levels of loneliness (β = −0.88; p < 0.001), trait anxiety (β = −0.37; p < 0.001), and depression (β = −0.44; p < 0.001).
Conclusion
The authors conclude that in parents of children who have had a liver transplant,
increased levels of perceived social support result in decreased levels of anxiety,
loneliness, and depression.
Practice implications
The authors recommend that healthcare professionals can contribute to reducing the
anxiety, loneliness and depression in parents of paediatric liver transplant recipients
by strengthening their social support systems.
Keywords
Abbreviations:
MSPSS (Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support), BDI (Beck Depression Inventory), ULS (UCLA Loneliness Scale), TAI (Trait Anxiety Inventory), SEM (Structural Equation Modelling)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 05, 2022
Accepted:
April 21,
2022
Received in revised form:
April 19,
2022
Received:
December 30,
2021
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
