Self-care and the performance of their own role might be important for the prevention of complications and improvement of quality of life in hemodialysis patients with chronic renal failure(CRF). To improve well-being and quality of life for the patients, the author estimated the level of self-care and associating factors through a questionnaire. The information was composed of the knowledge for hemodialysis and renal disease, the level of self-care, health belief, supports from the family, disease-related stresses, personal characteristics, medical history, relationships with medical personnel, etc. The data was gathered from 126 hemodialysis patients who were undergoing hemodialysis in one university hospital and five hospitals in Kyungsangnam-Do area from December 1997 to January 1998, and was analyzed by PC SAS program(version 6.12) with the level of significance(α=0.05). The mean age of subjects was 47.0±13.5 years with no significant difference in gender distribution. The mean duration of hemodialysis was 39.0 months, and their frequencies of hemodialysis were more than three times per week(77.0%). Only 21.4% had the specific education on hemodialysis and CRF. In the level which was expressed as the score out of 100, the mean of knowledge was 90.7±9.1 and the mean of self-care was 73.9±12.7, that means, they only partially carried their knowledge into practice.
They showed a significant correlation between knowledge and health belief(γ=0.282); self-care and health belief(γ=0.357), family supports and knowledge(γ=0.221), self-care(γ=0.402), health belief(γ=0.431); and health belief and stress(γ=-0.361). Age, religion, marrital status, education, and relationships with medical personnel showed positive correlations, and smoking showed negative correlation with self-care. In the multiple regression with the level of self-care as dependent variable, and each of the characeristics as independent variables, supports from the family(β=0.158), the experience of disease specific education(β=4.959), relationships with medical personnel(β=6.615), current smoking(β=-6.986), and current drinking(β=-7.095) were detected as significant factors. The value of R-square was 34%.
In summary, to promote the level self-care and to improve the well beings and quality of life for the hemodialysis patients, it would be emphasized that they terminate smoking and drinking, and it would be recommended that the education programs and supports from the family be strengthened. And, because there was a considerable difference between the level of knowledge and self-care, it would also be emphasized to propose the education programs which focused on execution. In addition to that, there is a need to improve relationships between the patients and medical personnel through positive changes in the attitudes of the medical personnel.
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