Psychiatric and psychosocial characteristics of pediatric transplantation candidates-evaluation scale

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to standardize psychiatric assessments for organ transplant candidates by developing a semi-structured interview tool to ensure consistent evaluations and protective measures.
METHODS: The study included 34 pediatric solid organ transplant candidates: 8 pre-school, 10 pre-adolescent, and 16 adolescent patients. All participants were evaluated independently by two clinicians. The Psychiatric and Psychosocial Characteristics of Pediatric Transplantation Candidates–Evaluation Scale (PPCPT-ES), the Satisfaction with Life Scale for Children, and the Hope in Children Scale were administered to all patients. Item analysis and internal consistency reliability analyses were conducted separately for both raters across the 18 items of the PPCPT-ES.
RESULTS: Four items were excluded from the analysis: three due to item–total score correlation values below 0.20 and one
due to lack of significance in the interrater consistency analysis. For the remaining 14 items, item–total score correlation values ranged from 0.29 to 0.72 for rater 1 and from 0.25 to 0.70 for rater 2. The internal consistency reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha) was 0.86 for both raters.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that the PPCPT-ES demonstrates good internal consistency and measures a homogeneous construct as a continuous variable, supporting its potential utility in the standardized psychiatric assessment of pediatric organ transplant candidates.