Studying the Quality of Life in Major Thalassemic Patient's and their Families

This research was aimed at better understanding and apprectation of the physical characteristics, psychological health, social relations, social environments, and the families of patients afflicted with thalassemia in order to make use of the findings in identifying these patient's condition, perceiving qualitative aspects of their lives, and finding solutions to assist and support them. The subjects in this study were patients over 14 afflicted with thalassemia major laong with their families who had referred to Sayyed Ashohada Hospital in Isfahan to receive special services. 100 patients with thalassemia major (60 girls and 40 boys) and a hundred of their parents (24 men and 76 women) were selected randomly. In the current study recourse was made to WHO's life quality questionnaire, which evaluates life quality within four domains of "physical health", "psychological health", "social relations", and "living environment". Moreover, all the subjects filled in the demographic questionnaire associated with the study. The gained data gained were analysed by T and F statistical analyses, a computer program, and SPSS. After the analysis of the scores in the patient's life quality questionnaire along with that of their parents, results indicated that the mean score related to three aspects of life quality (physical health, psychological health, and social evironment) was significantly higher than the mean (c= 3) but with regard to social relations, the mean score for the life quality of patients with thalassemia major was significantly lower than the mean. Furthermore, the analysis of the data showed that from among patient's demographic variables and those of their families, the variables of "teenager's gender" and "teenager's education", "the number of family members" and parent's education" had a significant relation with the aspects of life quality.