PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to identify factors influencing a family's quality of life (QoL) when one member has a liver transplantation.
METHODS
A total of 98 families were asked questions about characteristics, stress, social support and QoL. The instruments used for this study were the Stress Scale for Families of Liver Transplantation Recipients, the Personal Resources Questionnaire, the Korean version of QoL Simple Type Scale. Data were analyzed by t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient and multiple regression.
RESULTS
The mean scores of stress was 2.58±0.75 and of social support was 4.81±0.87. The mean of the QoL was 3.39±0.60. Quality of life had significant correlations with stress and social support. Using multiple regression analysis, the QoL was significantly influenced by social support, stress and monthly average household income.
CONCLUSION
The results suggest that social support, stress and income should be considered in developing the nursing interventions to improve the QoL of families of patients with liver transplantation.

Citations

• The Caring Experience of Family Caregivers for Patients of Living Donor Liver Transplantation from the Family Members
  Miseon Bang, Suhye Kwon
  Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing.2022; 52(4): 435.     CrossRef
• Impact of Self-esteem and Social support on Self-care Performance in Liver Transplantation Recipients
  Hyun Jung Jung, Young-Ju Kim
  The Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing.2020; 23(2): 132.     CrossRef

PURPOSE
Liver transplantation (LT) is the best treatment for patients with end-stage liver disease and most patients with LT return to their normal life. However, pregnancy and childbirth for women with LT are less common, mainly because it is considered to be dangerous for their health. The purpose of this study was to describe how Korean women after LT experience their pregnancy and childbirth.
METHODS
This study was designed to explore the experiences of pregnancy and childbirth of women with LT. Data were collected by individual in-depth interviews with four women who were pregnant and gave birth following LT in 2009. All interviews were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. The transcribed data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.
RESULTS
Four themes emerged as a result of analysis: recovery of lost feminity and marriage; fulfilling roles through pregnancy; life-risking pregnancy; and perfect family achieved by childbirth. These themes describe in detail about challenges and concerns the women with LT faced for their pregnancy and childbirth as well as many emotionally touching experiences.
CONCLUSION
The results of this study would support health professionals to be better prepared to help women with LT for pregnancy and childbirth by providing in-depth and insightful information.

Citations

• Lived Experiences of Korean Young Adults After Heart Transplantation: A Phenomenological Approach
  Hye Jin Yoo, Eunyoung E. Suh
  Asian Nursing Research.2021; 15(2): 89.     CrossRef

PURPOSE
This study was designed to investigate the survey of analyzing nursing interventions and nursing outcomes of the patients with liver transplantation. METHOD: The subjects of this study consisted of 83 patients and fifteen nurses who took care of them. The methods of this study were retrospective and descriptive survey. RESULT: The mean age of patients was 42.7 years and the subjects were 62.7% males. 56.7% of these patients were diagnosed with liver cirrhosis of B type. The mean duration of hospitalization was 48.6 days. Ninety-five nursing interventions were performed at least daily. The most frequent used interventions were "environmental management: comfort", "medication administration: parenteral", "cough enhancement", and " oxygen therapy". Even though SGOT level to identify nursing outcomes was decreased, SGOT was not within normal limits. Therefore, even after discharge of patients, There is a need to take care of them carefully. CONCLUSION: Conclusion: These findings revealed the significance and need of nurse practitioners who performed professional nursing intervention for the patients with liver transplantation. Especially, it is necessary needs to develop the nursing intervention programs for comfort.