An exploration of informal peer-support for dietary recommendations in haemodialysis

Abstract

People often seek feedback to compare aspects of their lives to others. For those undergoing haemodialysis, this may entail discussing dietary advice experiences with others to gain a sense of how well they are doing with their self-management skills. This informal peer-support may present opportunities and challenges for those undergoing haemodialysis. A total of 12 adults undergoing maintenance haemodialysis took part in semi-structured interviews which were transcribed verbatim and underwent thematic analysis. The self-evaluation model of social comparison informed data analysis and interpretation. Two major themes are reported. The major themes were ‘Joining the kidney family’, which represented a sense of solidarity among patients and ‘Social comparison to peers.’ Two sub-themes made up the theme ‘Social comparison to peers’, these were ‘Got it sorted’ and ‘On rocky ground’ and represented upwards comparisons from a self-evaluation perspective and down wards comparisons for self-enhancement. People form social relationships within a haemodialysis unit which are used to obtain evaluations on dietary self-management skills by social comparison. Positive self-evaluations involved downward and upward comparisons around dietary recommendations. Informal peer-support around dietary advice for haemodialysis is variable in terms of the accuracy and helpfulness of the information provided.