Starting on haemodialysis: A qualitative study to explore the experience and needs of incident patients

Abstract

Dialysis can be very stressful with the initial months onto treatment being highly critical in terms of both adaptation and mortality. This qualitative study aimed to explore the lived experiences of incident haemodialysis patients in Singapore. Topics related to the end-stage renal disease diagnosis and haemodialysis treatment were raised with 13 incident haemodialysis patients in the form of semi-structured interviews, and interpretative phenomenological analysis was undertaken as the framework for data analysis. Emotional distress, treatment-related concerns and social support emerged as main issues following a critical review of themes. Our study revealed that incident haemodialysis patients have emotional and informational needs, highlighting the importance of intervention programmes in particular to this patient group to promote better psychosocial adjustment to the disease and its treatment.

Keywords:

• adjustment
• ESRD
• haemodialysis
• incident
• psychosocial
• qualitative

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grants from National Kidney Foundation Research Fund [NKFRC2008/07/24], and Ministry of Education – NUS Academic Research Fund (start up) [FY2007-FRC5-006] to KG, which are gratefully acknowledged. The authors would also like to thank the healthcare professionals at NKF dialysis centres for their support, staff from Department of Care and Counselling at NKF, and all patients for giving their time to complete the interview.