Bone marrow transplantation survivors: reconstruction of daily living

Abstract

Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) is a highly complex procedure whose development over the last few decades has allowed the treatment of diseases that used to be invariably fatal. The transplant consists of several stressful phase for the patient consisting of three main times: pre-BMT, BMT proper, and post-BMT phase. The last phase is marked by a series of restrictions for the patients, whose daily life routine undergoes a total change. The main objective of the present study was to assess the (re)construction of daily living in patients submitted to BMT. The sample consisted of 24 patients in the post-BMT phase. The instrument which was used for data collection was the Post-BMT Recovery Interview (PBMT-RI). The interview was taped, transcribed verbatim in full and then analyzed using a qualitative approach, i.e. thematic content analysis. The results indicated that the time post-BMT is strongly associated with the reconstruction of daily living in survivors of BMT. This phenomenon may be attributed to an expected gradual improvement in patient organic condition and reduction of the limitations due to treatment itself (impossibility to carry out activities involving physical effort, use of medications, frequent ambulatory return visits, and possibility of disease recurrence, among others). These indicators of post-BMT readaptation are an important result since transplant is being definitely considered to be an important therapeutic option for different diseases.