Long-term psychosocial adjustment following pediatric liver transplantation

• Published in: Pediatric transplantation Vol. 3; no. 2; pp. 115 - 125
• Main Authors: Törnqvist, J., Van Broeck, N., Finkenauer, C., Rosati, R., Schwering, K. -L., Hayez, J. -Y., Janssen, M., Otte, J. -B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Munksgaard International Publishers 01-05-1999; Blackwell
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological; Adolescent; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child, Preschool; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Liver Transplantation - psychology; Liver, biliary tract, pancreas, portal circulation, spleen; Male; Medical sciences; organ transplantation - liver transplantation - children - adolescent - pediatric - psychosocial adjustment - psychological - Child Behavior Checklist - self-perception; Postoperative Period; Psychological Tests; Social Adjustment; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Surgery of the digestive system; Human; Prognosis; Psychological difficulty; Liver; Social adjustment; Transplantation; Self perception; Homotransplantation; Long term; Behavioral disorder; Confidence; Surgery; Adolescent; Young adult; Child
• ISSN: 1397-3142; 1399-3046
• DOI: 10.1034/j.1399-3046.1999.00026.x

: This study assessed long‐term psychosocial adjustment to pediatric liver transplantation in 146 patients aged 4–25 yr, who had received a transplant 2–12 yr previously. Evaluations of psychosocial adjustment and related variables were based on the Harter Self‐Perception Profiles for children, Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), and children’s school level. Up to the age of 8 yr, transplant children as a group did not perceive themselves as less competent than healthy peers. Gender effects were characterized by older girls perceiving significantly less scholastic cognitive competence than their healthy peers. Adolescent and young adult boys had significantly lower global self‐worth and lower perceived athletic competence than their healthy peers. In comparison to normative data of healthy children, CBCL parent‐reported scores revealed significant deficits in competences for all age groups. Only for the older boys, however, did these deficits reported by the parents reach a pathological level. The majority of transplant children also had significantly higher problem scores, but they remained within the normal range, except for the older boys whose internalizing problems reached a borderline level. Our results suggest that liver transplantation does not affect schooling in a substantial way. Regardless of statistically significant differences in psychosocial adjustment, the majority of the transplant children functioned on a normal level. For adolescent and young adult boys, however, the presence of problems and the lack of competences observed by parents and by the youngsters themselves reached borderline to pathological levels. Our findings stress the importance of psychological post‐transplant follow‐up with increased attention of caregivers to child and parental concerns about their long‐term psychosocial adjustment process.