Optimism is considered to influence Quality of Life (QoL) in a positive way. The longitudinal study was carried out to find the impact of optimism (life orientation) on perceived Quality of life among renal transplant recipients (RTRs) to see if optimism increases subjective QoL. The findings revealed a significant positive correlation between optimism and perceived QoL, suggesting that optimist recipients tend to be more satisfied with their overall life post- transplant. Recipients did not differ in levels of optimism on the basis of gender, marital status, education, financial conditions and time since transplantation. Age was the only demographic factor found to be negatively associated with optimism, suggesting that optimism decreases with increasing age. In order to clarify the cause & effect relationship, a linear regression was carried out that showed that optimism does not predict QoL; however, an increased QoL does predict optimism which is an interesting and unexpected finding. Optimism was studied as a personality trait; however, it appeared to be more as an outcome of life experiences. A Cross lagged Correlation analysis was carried out to clarify the causal direction of this relationship between optimism and QoL. However, no clear causal direction was found indicative of an overlap among these constructs which seem to lack distinctiveness as separate constructs.

renal transplantation, life orientation, optimism, quality of life, renal transplant recipients, psychosocial factors