How do Stories of Survival Help Patients Going Through Bone Marrow Transplant?

Allograft transplants are offered to people with haematological cancers sometimes as the best chance of a cure. However, the survival rates for these procedures can be quite poor, as the transplant, in itself, can be lifethreatening.

In addition, these procedures usually involve a period of lengthy hospitalisation accompanied by a host of debilitating conditions which patients must cope with in isolation due to their increased risk of serious infection. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there is considerable evidence that mood plays a role in the way people recover.

I wish to investigate the psychological impact of providing testimonies from survivors of transplants to patients undergoing the procedure.

The plan is initially to collect about 10-15 testimonials from past transplant patients using a videotaped structured interview then to collate these testimonials into a booklet format and DVD.

This booklet and DVD would be used as an intervention where 40 consecutive patients who are going ahead for transplant are invited to receive the testimonial intervention.

Patients will be asked to complete one mood measure (the HADS), the Life Orientation Test (LOT), and a questionnaire about expectations of treatment in clinic once a decision to proceed to transplant has been made. Patients will receive the testimonies upon admittance to the transplant unit and then receive the HADS and a structured interview within the first week of being admitted to the transplant ward (just prior to receiving the transplant) and within the first two weeks following the transplant.

Comparative analyses of the measures between the three time points would be performed and qualitative analysis of the structured interview data.

Around 80 people undergo transplant each year, it is estimated that the project will be completed by September 2016. The intention would be to publish following completion.