Psychosocial adjustment of males on three types of dialysis.

Abstract

End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is a chronic illness that challenges the coping ability of patients and their families, demanding behavioral and emotional lifestyle changes. The purposes of this comparative descriptive study were to explore the anxiety, depression, and psychosocial adjustment of male patients on three types of dialysis--home hemodialysis (home HD), in-center hemodialysis (in-center HD), and peritoneal dialysis (PD)--and to identify perception of hemodialysis stressors for those on home HD and in-center HD. Five subjects in each of the three groups (N = 15), matched for age, gender, education, and dialysis type, participated in the study. Although the convenience sample size is too small to generalize, subjects on home HD demonstrated higher psychosocial adjustment. The study supports further research with larger, randomized samples. Information about psychosocial adjustment of patients on each type of dialysis provides information for nurses as they guide patients in choosing dialysis type.