Published Paper Details:

The present study assessed psychological distress and health-related quality of life among patients with Chronic Liver Diseases. The objective of the study was to assess psychological distress and health-related quality of life among patients with CLD. The conceptual framework of the study is based on Roy's Adaptation Model. A non-experimental descriptive survey design was used for the study. 100 patients attending the liver clinic of KIMS hospital, TVM, and who satisfied the inclusion criteria were selected by consecutive sampling. A Structured Interview schedule was used to collect data regarding socio-personal variables and clinical variables. Psychological distress was assessed by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) by the Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire (CLDQ). After data collection, individualised teaching on measures to improve quality of life and to decrease psychological distress was given with an information pamphlet. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings show that 20 % had abnormal anxiety and 25% had borderline abnormal anxiety. 6 % had abnormal depression, and 37% had borderline abnormal depression. 64% of patients had good overall HRQoL, whereas 75% had poor HRQoL in the domain of activity; 71% had poor HRQoL in the fatigue domain; 42% had poor HRQoL in emotional function. The study's r value shows a statistically significant negative correlation (p<0.05, p<0.01) between psychological distress and HRQoL in various domains except for abdominal symptoms and systemic symptoms. There is a statistically significant association between anxiety with severity of illness, complications, and depression with the severity of illness, also there is a statistically significant association between HRQoL with age, severity of illness, duration of disease, and complications in various domains. The study findings concluded that low-level psychological distress enables patients with CLD to maintain a higher HRQoL.