Comparison of lasting life changes after cancer and BMT: perspectives of long-term survivors and spouses.

Objective: This qualitative follow up of long-term (>5 years) cancer survivor and spouse participants from a large, previous study of quality of life after blood and marrow transplantation (BMT) was designed to gain a deeper understanding of lasting life changes they experienced.

Methods: Thirty spouse-survivor pairs, an average of 13 years post-BMT, were individually interviewed to identify lasting life changes. Participants were asked about their most significant long-lasting change since cancer/BMT, most significant positive change and negative change, and whether the experience had affected them and their spouse differently.

Factors associated with self-reported physical and mental health after hematopoietic cell transplantation.

Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is an intensive treatment for hematologic malignancies that has the potential to cure disease or prolong life, but also to impair quality of life for survivors. Earlier studies have suggested that various factors are associated with physical and mental health after HCT. In this study, we evaluated demographic and clinical factors before and after HCT and selected psychosocial factors after HCT, exploring their association with self-reported physical and mental health.

Spiritual absence and 1-year mortality after hematopoietic stem cell transplant.

Religiosity and spirituality have been associated with better survival in large epidemiologic studies. This study examined the relationship between spiritual absence and 1-year all-cause mortality in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients. Depression and problematic compliance were examined as possible mediators of a significant spiritual absence-mortality relationship.

The preventive health behaviors of long-term survivors of cancer and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation compared with matched controls.

Little is known about the health promotion, prevention, and disease screening behaviors of cancer survivors treated with hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), who undergo arduous treatment and may be at particular risk for late effects and secondary malignancies. The purposes of this study were to examine the current health and secondary prevention behaviors of long-term HCT survivors compared with matched controls without cancer, and to identify sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with appropriate preventive practices. HCT survivors (n = 662) were drawn from 40 North American transplantation centers.

Late effects of cancer and hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation on spouses or partners compared with survivors and survivor-matched controls.

Purpose: Little is known about the long-term effects of cancer and hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HCT) on spouses or partners. The purpose of this study was to examine the health-related quality of life and post-traumatic growth (PTG) of spouses/partners compared with survivors and controls and to identify factors associated with those outcomes.

Patients And Methods: HCT survivor/partner pairs (n = 177), coupled continuously since HCT, were drawn from 40 North American transplantation centers.

Long-term health-related quality of life, growth, and spiritual well-being after hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation.

Purpose: To examine health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and growth, and spiritual well-being in adult survivors of hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) for a malignant disease.

Methods: HSCT survivors (n = 662) were recruited through the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry/Autologous Blood and Marrow Transplant Registry and were drawn from 40 transplantation centers. HSCT survivors completed a telephone interview and a set of questionnaires a mean of 7.

Thriving after hematopoietic stem cell transplant: a focus on positive changes in quality of life.

Studies describing the impact of hematopoietic stem cell transplants on patient quality of life have burgeoned in the last several years. The picture of the negative impact of a hematopoietic stem cell transplant on both the short- and long-term quality of life and the extent to which patients return to baseline quality of life functioning is almost complete. However, studies of positive changes in the form of gains or growth are lacking.