BACKGROUND: Psychological resilience is an increasingly recognized important protective factor for emotional health after solid organ transplantation; however, its role in the early post-transplant period is insufficiently explored. This study examined the role of psychological resilience in emotional health among kidney and liver transplant recipients, using a cross-sectional indirect-effect model.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cross-sectional, multicenter study was conducted at 4 transplant centers in Poland. Adult kidney and liver transplant recipients were assessed the day before hospital discharge after transplantation (mean hospital stay: 19.62 days). The study included 117 participants (68.4% kidney and 31.6% liver transplant recipients). Perceived social support was assessed with the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), psychological resilience with the Psychological Resilience Scale (SPP-25), and overall emotional distress with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Cross-sectional mediation analyses tested an indirect-effect model with MSPSS as the independent variable (X), SPP-25 as the mediator (M), and emotional distress measured by the HADS as the outcome variable (Y).

RESULTS: Participants reported moderate to high psychological resilience and high perceived social support, particularly from family and significant others, along with low to moderate emotional distress. Mediation analyses showed associations between perceived social support and emotional distress were statistically significant only as indirect effects mediated by psychological resilience.

CONCLUSIONS: In the early post-transplant period, psychological resilience is statistically associated with emotional health and may serve as an important mediator linking perceived social support to lower levels of emotional distress. These findings are consistent with a theoretical indirect-effect model and underscore the need for longitudinal studies to clarify temporal relationships in psychological adaptation after transplantation.

Keywords: Anxiety, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depression, Resilience, Psychological, Social Support, Transplantation