Hospital Loneliness and the Patient-Physician Relationship: A Preliminary Analysis of Associations with Recovery in Bone Marrow Transplant Patients
Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The purpose of the present study was to examine general loneliness, hospital loneliness, and the patient-physician relationship in regards to their associations with Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) recovery outcome variables (days until engraftment and quality of life). Fifteen (66.7% female, 33.3% male; 93.3% white, 6.7% Black/African American; average age 61.73) individuals who had an allogeneic or autologous BMT at The Mayo Clinic of Jacksonville completed the FACT-BMT, UCLA-Loneliness Scale Version 3, the CARE Measure, and provided disease and treatment information at the 6 month posttransplant date (+/- 30 days). Patients recovering from BMT indicated significantly higher scores of hospital loneliness in comparison to their general loneliness scores. This increase is believed to represent the outcome of experiencing hospital isolation during the post-transplant recovery process. Increases in hospital loneliness were marginally significant in predicting decreases in the patients overall quality of life. The patient physician consultational relationship was found to have a significant relationship with the number of days until engraftment, however the direction of the relationship was opposite the hypothesized direction. This may suggest that engraftment influences the quality of the relationship instead of vice versa. These results imply that there is a relationship between hospital isolation and increases in the amount of loneliness experienced during recovery from a BMT. Loneliness has been found to have a negative relationship with a number of physiological and quality of life outcomes. The present study also elucidates possible correlates with the patient-physician relationship.
Author: Lindsay E. Balfour
Institution: University of North Florida
Language: English
Topic: Cancer survivorship and care
Subfield: Oncology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W81568107