The Effect of Care Program on the Quality of Life of Patients Awaiting Liver Transplantation

Quality of life of patients in need of liver transplantation is impaired due to many reasons, and this affects the pre and post outcomes and complications of transplantation. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a care program on the quality of life of patients awaiting liver transplantation. This quasi-experimental study was conducted in 2017 on 117 patients awaiting liver transplantation in Imam Khomeini Hospital of Tehran. Based on entry criteria, the samples were selected purposefully, and their quality of life was evaluated. Then, a care program in 6 one-hour-long sessions for 2 months was implemented for them. This program was according to patients' needs, including disease and transplant process education with using multiple educational methods. The data collection tool was a quality of life questionnaire (1999), which was completed before and six weeks after the intervention. The results showed that the overall quality of life and its entire aspects improved after the implementation of care program in patients waiting for liver transplantation, and the most change was related to the aspect of systemic (P<0.01). Also, the demographic variables had no significant relationship with the aspects of quality of life. The results of this study indicated a positive effect of the care program on improving the quality of life of patients awaiting liver transplantation. Eliminating the problems of these patients requires the attention and support of planners and the cooperation of managers in order to develop care programs that can be used by healthcare professionals, especially nurses. © 2020 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved. Acta Med Iran 2020;58(1):21-26.