Spiritual-Psychological Experiences of Heart Transplant Recipients

Heart transplantation is one of the unique types of organ transplantation. Spiritualpsychological aspects of heart transplantation affect quality of life and survival rates. This study described the spiritual-psychological experiences of heart transplant recipients. In a qualitative phenomenological study, purposive sampling was used to select 9 heart transplant recipients. Data was collected through in-depth and unstructured interviews. Data analysis was performed by Colaizzi's method. After the interviews, the transcriptions were analyzed and three concepts of peace, depression and despair were extracted. The results of this study demonstrated that patients with a range of emotional problems showed different spiritual-psychological dimensions. While giving care to each patient, he needs to be considered as a unique individual. In addition to considering physical needs of patients, their spiritual-psychological problems should also be taken into account. Awareness of patient's experiences can help the care team to provide appropriate. The quality of life and survival rates of patients would thus be improved. Psychological and psychiatric counseling would also facilitate the healing process.