The Effect of Mind-guided Imagery on Decreasing Fatigue in Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis

Fatigue is one of the most common symptoms in patients undergoing hemodialysis. This study was designed with the aim of determining the effect of mind-guided imagery on decrease of fatigue in patients undergoing hemodialysis.
The present study was a quasi-experimental one, carried out on 80 patients undergoing hemodialysis at Shahid Rajaei Hospital, Alborz province, during 2015-2016. The patients were selected by convenience sampling method and were randomly divided into two control (n = 40) and experimental (n = 40) groups. The general mind-guided imagery technique was designed to reduce fatigue, and was carried out during three sessions, each of which lasting 20 to 30 minutes for four weeks. The control group received routine care. Additionally, the data collection tools were the questionnaire, the demographics, and the Brief Fatigue Inventory. For analyzing the data, U Mann-Whitney, chi-squared and independent t-tests were performed using SPSS version 21.
Findings of this study showed a significant difference between pre- and post-interventions, where the fatigue mean score in the experimental group changed from 4.31 ± 1.44 to 2.32 ± 1.64 (P 0.05).
Considering the result of this study, positive effects of mind-guided imagery on fatigue reduction in patients undergoing hemodialysis were observed; it can be suggested that mind-guided imagery technique is probably effective on reduction of fatigue levels in these patients and is recommended as a non-pharmacological intervention. Therefore, this method, as a non-pharmacological intervention, is recommended to be applied by clinical nurses.