title: Effects of psychosocial education on adaptation in elderly hemodialysis patients.
abstract: The purpose of this experimental field pilot study was to determine whether the application of psychosocial education sessions had an effect on the adaptation level of elderly hemodialysis patients. A pretest, posttest control group design with two randomly selected groups was used. Ten patients, 4 males and 6 females, age 65 years and older, were randomly selected and stratified according to gender, with 2 males and 3 females assigned to either an experimental or a control group. The Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale, Self-Report (PAIS-SR) was administered as a pretest 1 week prior to implementation of the intervention with the experimental group. It was again given as a posttest 30 days after completion of the intervention. The intervention, 7 psychosocial educational sessions with 7 audiotapes and a companion text module, provided information. These sessions were conducted with the experimental group, 2 days a week, during the subjects' hemodialysis treatments, taking approximately 20 minutes each, over a period of 4 1/2 weeks. Data were analyzed utilizing t-tests and descriptive statistics. No significant differences were found between the scores of the pretest and posttest when comparing the two groups. However, a significant value of 0.035 (p < 0.05) was evident in one domain of the PAIS-SR, the domestic environment, when comparing the scores of the pretest and posttest of the experimental group. The application of psychosocial education sessions did not have a significant effect on the adaptation level of elderly hemodialysis patients.
authors.affiliation: Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL, USA.
authors.forename: T R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Mathers
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D003479:Curriculum; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000523:psychology*; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013637:Tape Recording