"I need to lead my own life in any case"--a study of patients in dialysis with or without a partner.
OBJECTIVE
To elicit psychological and psychosocial problems existing in patients in dialysis and their partners, its being felt that the diversity involved has important implications for how service in dialysis units is delivered to patients and their partners.


METHODS
The results of a series of interviews of 39 patients in dialysis and 21 partners of theirs, each interview individual, concerning their ways of thinking and their feelings and the behaviour, were analyzed in qualitative and content-oriented terms.


RESULTS
Five basic themes could be identified: importance of treatment being individualized, dependency on an apparatus, consequences of the disease and its treatment, hopes for the future, and thoughts concerning life and death. Diversities relating to age, civil status, cultural and gender matters were disclosed.


CONCLUSIONS
The interview approach illustrated the importance of extended professional and individualized support in handling psychological and psychosocial disparities and needs in order to make treatment regimes more acceptable to the persons involved.


CONCLUSIONS
Suggestions are made concerning efforts to improve the care of patients receiving dialysis, and the importance of working with the patients and those closest to them in multidisciplinary teams.
Ekelund
Marie-Louise
ML
Department of Nephrology, University Hospital of Lund, Lund, Sweden. Marie-Louise.Ekelund@med.lu.se
Andersson
Sven Ingmar
SI
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011788:Quality of Life; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000523:psychology*; D012847:Single Person / Q000523:psychology; D012944:Social Support; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D013548:Sweden