Psychosocial aspects of haematopoietic stem cell donation for allogeneic transplantation: how family donors cope with this experience

Abstract

Peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) allogeneic transplantation is an innovative medical procedure which has many advantages in comparison with bone marrow (BM) transplantation, but it involves administering haematopoietic growth factors (HGFs) to donors, the long-term physiological effects of which have not yet been established. The main aim of the present study was to analyse how family PBSC donors cope when confronted with this particular risk context. In addition to data collected on the personal and social aspects of the donors' experience, questionnaires were used to measure their quality of life (pain and anxiety) before, during and after donation, and they were subsequently interviewed in depth by a psychologist. Twenty-two donors participated in this study. They did not all react to the experience of blood cell donation in the same way, in terms of their own personal feelings, attitudes towards the donation, their relationships with the other members of the family, and their awareness of the risk involved.