Abstract:

Objective: This study was carried out to evaluate the psychological resilience of family members whose children had kidney transplantation. Method: This is a descriptive and cross-sectional study. The universe of the study consisted of families (N = 55) whose children had kidney transplantation in Tepecik Training and Research Hospital Nephrology-Dialysis Unit. Among the family members of children who received treatment between May and June (2019), when the research was conducted, those who met the research criteria and who volunteered were included in the sample. The data of the study were collected using a personal information form and the Adult Psychological Resilience Scale. The analysis of the data obtained as a result of the research was made in a computer environment with SPSS 20 package program. Descriptive statistics, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Mann Whitney-U analyzes, were used to evaluate the data. Results were evaluated at 95% confidence interval and p <0.05 significance level. Results: It is observed that 9.4% of the children of the participants are 3-12 years old, 28.3% are 13-17 years old and 62.3% are over 18 years old. 39.6% of the children are girls and 60.4% are boys. 79.2% of the caregivers are women and 20.8% are men. When the Psychological Resilience Scale scores of the caregivers were compared with the independent variables; The psychological endurance scores of caregivers with good daily eating habits and self-care skills were found to be statistically significantly higher (p <0.05). Daily sleep patterns, training, and working activities, resting and recreation activities, sports habits, and social relations did not make a statistically significant difference in terms of psychological endurance scores of caregivers (p> 0.05). Conclusion: The psychological resilience of caregivers with other chronic diseases in the family and good daily eating habits and self-care skills were found to be high. This showed that the caregivers were preoccupied with the minimal needs of themselves. The majority of caregivers in the areas of daily sleep patterns, training and working activities, recreation and entertainment activities, sports habits, and social relations reported that they were not good. It is interesting that these factors, which have an important effect on psychological resilience, do not affect the psychological resilience of caregivers. This situation made us think that caregivers may not be interested in daily living activities, social and intellectual needs, and self-actualization dimensions as altruistic behavior.

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