"Quality of life" for patients with end-stage renal failure.
The assessment of health status and quality of life among chronically ill patients is an area of current scientific interest. This paper considers the utility of a short but comprehensive instrument to assess the quality of life for end-stage renal failure patients. the Spitzer QL-Index was completed by 8 nurses for all patients in the Wellington region currently being treated with home hemodialysis (n = 58); hospital hemodialysis (n = 13); and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (n = 37). Results indicated that home hemodialysis patients achieve the highest quality of life in comparison to the other two treatment modalities. It is concluded that the QL-Index has some discriminative validity for this patient population, and its use may contribute to informed decision making by both patients and doctors.
Fox
E
E
Department of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington.
Peace
K
K
Neale
T J
TJ
Morrison
R B
RB
Hatfield
P J
PJ
Mellsop
G
G
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010531:Peritoneal Dialysis, Continuous Ambulatory; D011788:Quality of Life; D006435:Renal Dialysis