Evaluation of hopelessness, decision regret and desire for retransplantation in patients with graft loss after kidney transplantation

Abstract

Aim: In this descriptive study, it was aimed to evaluate hopelessness, decision regret, and desire to be transplanted again in patients who developed graft loss after kidney transplantation. Material and Method: The study sample consisted of all patients who developed graft loss after kidney transplantation between January 2017 and February 2021 in a private hospital in XXX, who met the inclusion criteria and volunteered for the study. "Patient Information Form", 'Beck Hopelessness Scale' and 'Decision Regret Scale' were used as data collection tools in the study. Findings: It was determined that participants experienced a moderate level of hopelessness after graft rejection (13.370 +/- 4.379) while the average scores on the decision regret scale were generally high (66.435 +/- 18.213). Regarding the desire to be transplanted again, it was observed that the majority of the participants (52.2 %) did not want to be transplanted again. According to the results of the correlation analysis, there was a significant correlation between hopelessness and decision regret scores (p* < 0.05) while there was no significant correlation with the desire to be transplanted again (p > 0.05). In addition, hopelessness (p = 0.034) scores of individuals who were not employed were significantly higher than those who were employed, and both hopelessness (p = 0.000) and decision regret (p = 0.048) scores of those without religious belief were significantly higher than those with religious belief. Conclusion: The findings of the study emphasize the critical importance of monitoring and psychological support processes before and after kidney transplantation. Understanding the emotional processes individuals experience after kidney transplant graft loss is important for the development of psychological support and intervention strategies.