UF study: rec therapy helps those awaiting heart transplants

May 22, 2001

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Patients awaiting heart transplants would benefit from recreational therapy, which would boost their spirits and help them better cope with stress, according to a new University of Florida study.

The combination of so much time confined to a hospital and the seemingly low chances of actually receiving a heart add up to a bleak picture for patients, who can wait up to a year waiting in the hospital, said Marieke Holt, a doctoral student in UF’s department of recreation, park and tourism who did the study for her thesis.

“I found that their mood decreases after two months,” said Holt, whose study appears this month in Parks and Recreation magazine. “The honeymoon, so to speak, is over. The reality of the length of time of the wait begins to set in. It’s also very difficult for them to watch people around them die or watch people around them go before them to get hearts.”

Lisa Kory, the executive director of the Transplant Recipients International Organization, based in Washington, D.C., said the study should help the many people awaiting transplants.

“I applaud her for what she’s doing,” Kory said of Holt. “Recreation is just as important as anything else, because these people have to be in the best possible condition, mentally and physically, when they receive their new organ.”

More than 4,000 Americans are waiting for heart transplants at any given time, and many wait more than a year in the hospital for their new chance at life, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. In 1999, only 2,182 heart transplants were performed. Seven hundred patients died while on the waiting list.

The number of people waiting for heart transplants has increased in recent years, Holt said, which increases the need to help those patients cope.

“These patients are unable to leave the hospital,” Holt said. “I found that they have a need for perceived freedom, to feel like they’re in control and able to make decisions about their lives. Boredom is a big issue too. Their days are often repetitive and unexciting.”

That’s why Holt, who currently is working with a group of people awaiting new hearts at Shands Transplant Center at UF in Gainesville, has come up with a list of suggestions for hospitals to make the wait for transplants more tolerable. The tips are important not only to increase the comfort of patients, Holt said, but also to improve their chances of survival before and after their transplant surgery.

“This will benefit patients medically, too,” she said. “People who aren’t depressed recover better after surgery and have lower mortality rates than those who are depressed.”

Holt spent months interviewing heart transplant patients at the center and implementing different forms of recreation therapy, including creating and sponsoring activities and workshops for patients to get involved in.

Gail Adorno, a clinical specialist at the transplant center’s department of patient and family resources, welcomed Holt’s study. “Evaluating the psychosocial needs of people waiting in the hospital for heart transplant from a recreation therapy perspective is a welcome addition to a team of psychosocial disciplines concerned with adjustment issues,” Adorno said. “Ms. Holt’s enthusiasm and willingness to devote her thesis work to this population has been a tremendous asset.”

Recreational therapists often work to enhance the lives of hospital-bound cancer patients, but many hospitals virtually overlook the similar needs of the comparatively small number of people awaiting transplants, Holt said. She suggests in her article that hospitals hire a recreational therapist to work with patients awaiting transplants too.

Among her other recommendations:

  • Educate the patients about their leisure options.
  • Teach patients about stress management techniques.
  • Offer a variety of leisure and recreation activities that can be done in the hospital.
  • Sponsor learning activities such as computer workshops.
  • Encourage social interaction between patients.