Quality of Life and Group Psychological Intervention in Patients With Cirrhosis on Liver Transplant Waiting List.

BACKGROUND: The patients on the liver transplant (LT) waiting list usually present with deterioration in their quality of life. Previous studies on psychological intervention have shown how the quality of life can be improved.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze preliminary results of the influence of group psychotherapy on the quality of life of patients on the LT waiting list.

METHOD: Fifteen patients on the LT waiting list who accepted receiving group psychotherapy were selected. The development of each 1 of these sessions was carried out at fortnightly periods for 6 months (12 sessions). Those patients who received a transplant and those patients who did not attend more than 6 group psychotherapy sessions were excluded. The Nottingham Health Profile was used to assess the quality of life. It consists of 38 items belonging to 6 health dimensions: energy, pain, physical mobility, emotional reaction, sleep, and social isolation. The study population was given a questionnaire before starting group psychotherapy and after it was finished.

RESULTS: Of the 15 patients selected from the study population, 3 patients were given a transplant before the psychotherapy had finished, and 5 patients were excluded for not having attended more than 50% of the sessions. Therefore, the study was completed on 7 patients (n = 7). Overall, a better assessment can be seen in the second questionnaire.

CONCLUSIONS: Group psychotherapy might favorably influence the quality of life of patients on the LT waiting list; therefore, it might be interesting to carry out studies on a larger scale in order to confirm these results.