Abstract

 Background and Objectives

 Patients with thalassemia experience complex symptoms and encounter many physical and mental problems. This problems can affect their quality of life. This study is carried out to find the relationship between psychological characteristics and the quality of life of patients with thalassemia.

 Materials and Methods

 A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted to determine the psychological reactions and quality of life of patients with thalassemia in Kerman. The instruments for data gathering were DASS (42) and Quality of life (SF 36). Data analyses were done by central indexes, chi², ANOVA, and t-test.

 Results

 The results showed that 49.3% were male and 50.7 % female. The age range varied from 15 to 22.6 years. The results of 8 domains of the quality of life indicates that the score of physical domain was higher than the mental domain (p < 0.0001). The results regarding the psychological reactions showed that the patients had levels of “depression, anxiety, and stress” with 44.9%, 53.6%, and 50.7%, respectively. The results also showed there were significant differences between the quality of life and psychological reactions of patients.

 Conclusions

 The results showed the patients were at risk of psychological problems and the poor quality of life in mental domains thus, all domains of quality of life and mental problems of patients must be considered by caregivers, and holistic care of patients also should be one of the priorities of caring and curing.