The theoretical rationale was the author’s Functional Model of Health (FMH), where health is construed as a function of creative coping with stress. Participants in the study were 141 patients with blood cancer (80 men and 61 women) treated with bone marrow transplantation at the Hematology Clinic, Jagiellonian University Collegium Medicum. Besides a standardized interview the following instruments were used: STAI by Spielberger, CISS and CHIP by Endler and Parker, and SOC-29 by Antonovsky. Health status was operationalized using 10-point self-rating scales to assess the patients’ perceived health and sense of calmness, while their objective health was rated by a medical expert - hematologist. In the statistical analyses significant correlations were found between stress level and the patients’ subjective health (-0.34, p<0.001). The following variables predicted stress intensity: anxious personality (.585), distraction coping strategy (-.202), female sex (.201), and sense of meaningfulness (-.190). Subjective health predictors of leukemia patients are: objective health (ß = .413), level of stress (ß = -.285), by the patient’s sense of meaningfulness (ß = .244) and focusing on negative emotions (ß = -.193). To promote patients’ health moreover, their sense of meaningfulness in life and in being active should be supported and enhanced.
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There are around 10.000 people in Poland who have undergone an organ transplantation at some point in their lives. This procedure allowed those people to enjoy regained health and successfully return to normal life, with the previously assigned roles at work, in their family and in society. Despite the advances in transplantation, a half of the people waiting for this form of treatment would die, since there are no organs to be transplanted. This state of affairs is caused by the low awareness among the Polish society. Polish people have very low confidence in this treatment method. They lack a basic understanding of the essential medical and legal procedures defining the organization of organ transplantation. Health educators should address concerns that emerge in society and to present a positive image of transplantation, as a science saving people’s lives. Educating young people about organ transplantation, since their earliest days at school, provides a chance to shape a positive attitude towards the issues of organ transplantation. This article attempts to answer the following questions: what is health education, organ transplantation, and what are the goals of the health education programs promoting organ transplantation?