Investigating the relationship between illness perception and quality of life in hemodialysis patients

According to the nature of their illness, dialysis patients should have a clear perception of it. Nurses can influence patients’ quality of life through perception-basedinterferences. The present study seeks to determine the relationship between illness perception and quality of life. Additionally, it tries to find out predictive variables of quality of life based on illness perception dimensions. 120 dialysis patients participated in this descriptive-correlation study in 2010-2011. The patients were admitted in Taleghani Hospital of Urmia. The required data was collected by the use of a demographic data questionnaire, a briefillness perception questionnaire (IPQ-B), andstandard quality of life questionnaire (SF-12).The data was analyzed using Pearson correlation test and stepwise regression analysis. There was an inverse correlation between parameters of consequences, nature of illness, anxiety, emotional response and quality of life (p<0.05). Stepwise regression analysis showed that parameters of consequences, nature of illness and emotional response significantly participated in determining the quality of life variance. Based on the achieved results of the present study, nurses can improve the quality of life inhemodialysis patients through presenting proper training and consulting courses to patients and their families about treating options and nature of illnesses and also by having them participate in health improvement programs.