Two-year adjustment of bone marrow transplant survivors

Abstract

Very little systematic analysis exists on the psychological and emotional factors involved in bone marrow transplantation, either during or after treatment. However, recent published findings, contrary to earlier anecdotal and case study evidence, indicate that bone marrow transplant survivors appear to be functioning adequately on a variety of 'quality of life' variables. The purpose of the present study was to compare bone marrow transplant survivors to a matched sample of patients undergoing maintenance chemotherapy in four areas of function; physical health, including symptoms and physician visits; personal functioning, emphasizing ability to care for self; psychological functioning; and role functioning, including employment and sexual difficulties. Our data reveal that the bone marrow transplant patients were experiencing greater difficulties than the maintenance chemotherapy patients in several areas. For example, the bone marrow transplant patients had experienced greater disruption of vocational functioning and reported more sexual difficulties. However, in spite of more objective difficulties, bone marrow transplant patients, compared to maintenance chemotherapy patients, viewed themselves as equally healthy and reported similarly low levels of psychological distress. The findings are discussed in the context of necessary future research on bone marrow transplant survivors.