The Effect of Emotion-Focused Intervention on Emotion Regulation and Well-Being of Individuals With Transplantation

Chronic diseases are long-term, often lifelong, health problems that seriously impact an individual's quality of life. These diseases require not only medical treatment but also psychosocial support. Chronic diseases such as kidney failure cause physical and psychological challenges.

Renal transplantation is an effective treatment option for individuals with chronic kidney disease. However, the transplant process and its aftermath pose intense emotional challenges for the patient and their family. Patients undergoing transplantation require increased social support mechanisms, which can directly impact the success of treatment. Renal transplantation is considered an emotional experience that can evoke a range of emotions, from relief and gratitude to anxiety and fear. It is believed that using emotion-focused therapy approaches is important for individuals with renal transplantation to recognize their emotions, regulate them, and replace dysfunctional emotions with functional ones. In this context, this study was designed to evaluate the effects of an emotion-focused intervention based on the Human-to-Human Relationship Model on emotion regulation skills and well-being in individuals after renal transplantation. Data from the study, which uses a pretest and posttest control group design, will be collected using the Personal Information Form, the Emotion Regulation Skills Scale, and the Well-Being Scale. Emotion-focused intervention methods will be administered to the intervention group in eight sessions, each lasting approximately 60 minutes per week, while the control group will receive no intervention. The study population will consist of individuals who have undergone organ transplantation at the Akdeniz University Hospital Prof. Dr. Tuncer Karpuzoğlu Organ Transplantation Research and Application Center, and the sample will consist of 56 individuals who have undergone renal transplantation who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data analysis will be done using Social Sciences Statistics Package 29.0. Descriptive statistics will be used to define the sample, using the Student t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, and the Wilcoxon pair test. The study will assess the effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Intervention in this group.

It is anticipated that it will reduce psychosocial symptoms seen in individuals who have undergone renal transplantation and have an impact on their emotion regulation skills and well-being.

Inclusion criteria

• Volunteering to participate in the study
• Having a renal transplant
• Being over 18 years of age
• Being literate

Exclusion criteria

• Having any communication disability (reading, hearing, speaking, etc.)
• Participation in another study simultaneously with this study outside of routine clinical practice
• Having another neurological or psychiatric diagnosis affecting cognitive status
• Having previously undergone a renal transplant
• Having undergone multiple organ transplant