Abstract
The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional study was to explore the effects of medical diagnosis (severity level, family history), optimism levels, resilience and age on the level of perceived quality of life and psychological distress experienced by patients with haemophilia in Ireland. Haemophilia is a hereditary bleeding disorder primarily affecting men. The purposive sample of 81 participants comprising of males ranging in age from 20 to 82 years, partook in an anonymous questionnaire, no treatment interventions were conducted. The SF-36, GHQ, LOT-r and BRS instruments were administered along with general demographic information relating to their bleeding disorder. No statistically significant correlation was found between bleeding disorder type or severity and QoL or psychological distress. Age and resilience were found to be positive predictors of QoL, similarly, age resilience and optimism were found to be significant predictors of psychological distress. This may benefit tools for psychological interventions for patients.
