Positive Psychological Well-Being in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Survivors

• Published in: Transplantation and cellular therapy Vol. 29; no. 9; pp. 583.e1 - 583.e9
• Main Authors: Amonoo, Hermioni L., Lam, Jeffrey A., Daskalakis, Elizabeth, Deary, Emma C., Celano, Christopher, Onyeaka, Henry K., Newcomb, Richard, Barata, Anna, Horick, Nora, Cutler, Corey, Pirl, William F., Lee, Stephanie J., Huffman, Jeff C., El-Jawahri, Areej
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.09.2023
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Flourishing; Gratitude; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; Humans; Life Satisfaction; Male; Middle Aged; Optimism; Positive Affect; Positive psychological well-being; Positive psychology; Prospective Studies; Psycho-oncology; Psychological Well-Being; Quality of Life; Survivors; Well-being; Gratitude; Well-being; Psycho-oncology; Positive psychological well-being; Positive psychology; Flourishing; Life Satisfaction; Positive Affect; Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; Optimism
• ISSN: 2666-6367; 2666-6375; 2666-6367
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jtct.2023.07.010

•Positive psychological well-being (PPWB) includes gratitude and flourishing.•PPWB is associated with important health outcomes in the hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) population.•A substantial minority of HSCT survivors report low PPWB.•Our findings demonstrate the need to increase support for HSCT recipients with low PPWB. Positive thoughts and emotions contribute to overall psychological health in diverse medical populations, including patients undergoing HSCT. However, few studies have described positive psychological well-being (eg, optimism, gratitude, flourishing) in patients undergoing HSCT using well-established, validated patient-reported outcome measures. We conducted cross-sectional secondary analyses of baseline data in 156 patients at 100 days post-HSCT enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of a psychological intervention (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT05147311) and a prospective study assessing medication adherence at a tertiary care academic cancer center from September 2021 to December 2022. We used descriptive statistics to outline participant reports of positive psychological well-being (PPWB) using validated measures for optimism, gratitude, positive affect, life satisfaction, and flourishing. The participants had a mean age of 57.4 ± 13.1 years, and 51% were male (n = 79). Many, but not all, participants reported high levels of PPWB (ie, optimism, gratitude, positive affect, life satisfaction, and flourishing), defined as agreement with items on a given PPWB measure. For example, for optimism, 29% of participants did not agree that “overall, I expect more good things to happen to me than bad.” Aside from life satisfaction, mean PPWB scores were higher in the HSCT population than in other illness populations. Although many patients with hematologic malignancies undergoing HSCT report high levels of PPWB, a substantial minority of patients reported low PPWB (i.e., no agreement with items on a given PPWB measure). Because PPWB is associated with important clinical outcomes in medical populations, further research should determine whether an intervention to promote PPWB can improve quality of life in HSCT recipients.