Stressors and Coping strategies of dialysis patients

Considering the increasing rate of hemodialysis patients, different results of previous studies, human’s constant interaction with the environmental changes and living in today’s modern world, people are exposed to a barrage of constant changes and stressors. These changes in chronic renal failure patients comparing to healthy individuals are more and different. The type of coping strategies used by the people depend on several factors including personal experience, social support systems, personal beliefs, available resources and genetic background. The study aimed to “identifying the type of experienced stressors and coping strategies used by hemodialysis patients”. Mothods: In this descriptive correlational study, Hemodialysis Stressors Scale (HSS) and Jalowiec Coping Scale (JCS) were used to investigate stressors and coping strategies of 70 hemodialysis patients hospitalized in hospitals supervised by Medical Sciences University of Jiroft in 2013. Sampling was done through census sampling method. Data analysis was done by SPSS 20 software, the methods of descriptive and inferential statistics of chi-square type and Fisher's exact test with 95 % Confidence Coefficient. The majority of samples (48/6%) were from 41 to 60 years old and 60 % of them were male. 11/4 percent of them experienced physiological stressor and 88/6 percent experienced psychosocial stressors. Therefore psychosocial stressors were reported more bothering than physiologic stressors and patients experienced them more. Optimistic coping mechanism was the most common coping strategies used by the patients. The most frequent experienced physiological stressors included fatigue, limitations of fluids, limitations of food and arterial & venous stick and the most frequent psychosocial stressors included limits on the time & place for vacation, boredom, sleep disturbances and interference with job. There was statistically significant relationship between the percentage of experienced stressors in hemodialysis patients and their age (p=0/005). Since psychosocial stressors were reported more bothering than physiologic stressors by the participants, decreasing or balancing them seems so essential. Being familiar with the experienced stressors and the amount of usage and effectiveness of the used coping strategies can help to provide appropriate programs to facilitate adaptation and acquiring necessary skills for patients and their families.