Coping in relation to perceived threat of the risk of graft rejection and Health-Related Quality of Life of organ transplant recipients

The most serious risk connected with transplantations besides infection is graft rejection. Organ transplant recipients (OTRs) perceive graft rejection as a stress factor and a threat. The primary aim of the present study was to examine types of coping used to handle the threat of the risk of graft rejection among OTRs and to investigate relations between coping and perceived threat as well as Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL). A second aim was to test the General Coping Questionnaire (GCQ) for reliability in relation to the threat of the risk of graft rejection. Three different questionnaires, the Perceived Threat of the Risk of Graft Rejection (PTGR), GCQ and the SF-36, were mailed to 229 OTRs between 19 and 65years old. Patients were transplanted with a kidney, a liver or a heart and/or a lung. All patients with follow-up time of 1year +/- 3months and 3years +/- 3months were included. With an 81% response rate, the study comprised of 185 OTRs. The differences between the transplanted organ groups in their use of coping were small. Likewise, coping related weakly with sex, age, time since transplantation and whether they had experienced graft rejections or not. The respondents tended in general to use more of the positive' coping (strategies related to positive well-being). The measured coping in relation to the perceived threat of the risk of graft rejection seem to be relatively stable over time and quite independent of demographic and clinical variables.