Impact of Donor Sequence Number on Survival Following Heart Transplantation

Progress in surgical technology and in postoperative therapy has remarkably increased life expectation after heart transplantation. Nevertheless, patients still show a resistance to resume a normal life after transplantation, for example, to return to work. In this study we assume that after surgery patients become risk averse because they achieve a positive frame of reference. Because of this propensity toward risk aversion, they withhold from engaging in behavior that their physical condition would allow them in principle. Coherent with this assumption we found that compared to the medical team patients overestimate the degree of risk for routine activities. The study also showed that the representation of risk by the patients could be captured by a dreadfulness factor and a voluntariness factor. Patients' risk judgments were strongly and specifically predicted by the perceived degree of dreadfulness of the activity and, to a lesser extent, by the perceived knowledge of the consequences. Implications for patient-physician communication were explored.

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Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to Explore Pediatric Heart Transplant Recipients’ Dietary Behavior

European Journal of Health Psychology ◽

10.1027/2512-8442/a000010 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 25 (2) ◽

pp. 43-52

Author(s):

Jo Wray ◽

Claire Orrells ◽

Helen Latch ◽

Michael Burch

Keyword(s):

Theory Of Planned Behavior ◽

Heart Transplantation ◽

Planned Behavior ◽

Vegetable Consumption ◽

Graft Loss ◽

Dietary Behaviors ◽

Food Groups ◽

Tpb Model ◽

Eating Fruit ◽

End Stage

Abstract. Heart transplantation is the treatment of choice for children with end-stage heart disease. Coronary artery vasculopathy is, however, a significant morbidity and leading cause of late graft loss, and hyperlipidemia a risk factor for its development. Improving diet in this population could have important benefits for patients. We wanted to understand what influences decisions about food intake in this patient group. Dietary intentions and behavior were examined using a questionnaire based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) with 67 children who had undergone heart transplantation at least 12 months previously. The TPB model was significant for both healthy and unhealthy dietary behaviors, explaining 55% and 38% of the variance, respectively. Ten percent of children reported not eating any fruit and/or vegetables in the previous week and only 29% reported eating fruit and/or vegetables every day. The Theory of Planned Behavior provides a framework for explaining some specific dietary behaviors related to individual food groups in children who have undergone heart transplantation. These preliminary data support using this approach to inform the development of interventions to improve fruit and vegetable consumption but the approach may be less useful for explaining and developing interventions to reduce the consumption of unhealthy foods.

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