Activity Resumption After Stem Cell Transplantation

OTJR: Occupation, Participation and Health

AOTF: The American Occupational Therapy Foundation

Interventions, Effects, and Outcomes in Occupational Therapy: Adults and Older Adults

Feature Article
Activity Resumption After Stem Cell Transplantation

OTJR: Occupation, Participation and Health
Vol. 30, No. 1 Winter 2010

By Kathleen Doyle Lyons, ScD, OTR/L; Lynn D. Root, RN; Idalina C. Williams, RN, BSW; Elizabeth Kimtis, MS, ARNP; Anna D. Schaal, MSN, ARNP; Diane M. Stearns, MSN, ARNP; Kenneth Meehan, MD; Tim A. Ahles, PhD

ABSTRACT

Stem cell transplantation is an aggressive therapy for hematological malignancies in which a damaged immune system is essentially destroyed and replaced with healthy stem cells. This article reports the results of semi-structured interviews with 18 survivors of either autologous or allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Participants were interviewed after they had reached 100 days post-transplant and asked to discuss their activities, daily routines, and experiences since being discharged from the hospital. Activity engagement was mentioned by participants as a way to promote health, help reconnect one with his or her pre-transplant identity and lifestyle, and measure progress toward improved stamina. Although many participants reported a gradual resumption of previous routines, some participants described a more complicated process of reconstructing their daily routine in response to changes in their environment or career.

AUTHORS

Kathleen Doyle Lyons, ScD, OTR/L, is Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire. Lynn D. Root, RN, and Idalina C. Williams, RN, BSW, are Blood and Marrow Transplant Nurse Coordinators, Section of Hematology Oncology, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire. Elizabeth Kimtis, MS, ARNP, Anna D. Schaal, MSN, ARNP, and Diane M. Stearns, MSN, ARNP, are Instructors in Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire. Kenneth Meehan, MD, is Professor of Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire, and Director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire. Tim A. Ahles, PhD, is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York.

Originally submitted July 8, 2008. Accepted for publication December 5, 2008. Posted online February 25, 2009.

Address correspondence to Kathleen Lyons at Kathleen.d.lyons@dartmouth.edu.

doi: 10.3928/15394492-20091214-04

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