Effect of Illness Perception Intervention on Death Anxiety in Hemodialysis Patients: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background and Evidence show that hemodialysis patients experience high level of death anxiety. Therefore, many therapeutic interventions are suggested to reduce death anxiety. This study aimed at investigating the effect of illness perception intervention on death anxiety in hemodialysis patients.
A randomized clinical trial was carried out in 120 hemodialysis patients in Qazvin Bu-Ali Sina Hospital within three months (January to March 2016). Participants were randomly assigned into either an intervention group (illness perception intervention) or a control group (routine care). Demographic characteristics were recorded and the Templar Death Anxiety Scale and Illness Perception Questionnaire Revised (IPQ-R) were administered in both groups. The intervention group received illness perception intervention in three sessions for 30 minutes just before the start of each hemodialysis. Moreover, a booklet a bout self-care was given to patients.
There was no significant differences between the two groups in demographic characteristics except in hemodialysis duration (P= 0.014). The ANCOVA test showed no significant differences in death anxiety between the intervention group (43.73 ± 8.51) and control group (45.82 ± 8.07) (F [1, 112] = 3.12, P= 0.080].
Illness perception intervention is a non-pharmaceutical and useful method for decreasing the level of death anxiety in hemodialysis patients, although the reduction in this study was not statistically significant.