Liver transplant recipients' ability to cope during the first 12 months after transplantation--a prospective study

Little is known about the coping style and coping strategies among liver transplant recipients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the change in the sense of coherence and coping strategies among liver transplant recipients before and during the first year after liver transplantation. The aim was also to study whether or not there was any relationship between the sense of coherence and the coping strategies. Thirty-five patients met the inclusion criteria. Twenty-six-patients gave their verbal consent to participate in this longitudinal study and 21 patients (80%) completed the follow-up study. The Sense of Coherence scale (SOC) was used for investigation of coping style. The Jalowiec Coping Scale (JCS-40) was used to assess general coping behaviour. The Ethics Committee gave approval to perform this study. The group was heterogeneous regarding the change in the sense of coherence with pronounced individual changes in meaningfulness during the first 3 months and in comprehensibility 6-12 months after liver transplantation. The group showed a homogeneous pattern of change in coping strategies. Confrontational coping strategy was commonly used during the period. A relationship was found between comprehensibility and palliative coping. This prospective study indicated that coping style, assessed by the SOC scale, changed primarily at an individual level during the first year after liver transplantation while changes in coping strategies, according to JSC-40, were in common for the group. The usual coping strategy during the first posttransplant year was confrontational coping.