Emotional Pre-Occupation And Variations in Stress Scores During Chronic Hemodialysis Management.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Hemodialysis (HD) patients experience significant psychological stress related to HD. Different types of coping strategies are utilized by these patients to cope with this stress. METHODS: Variations in different types of coping strategies with the variations in HD-related stress scores and disparities by sex were assessed. HD patients aged 18 years and above who were seeking regular treatment in a specific HD-unit of a hospital in the upper Midwest, were surveyed between March 2020 and July 2020. RESULTS: Descriptive statistics, correlational analyses, and regression analyses were performed. Females could be expected to have emotional coping scores 8 units greater than males, as B = 8.017 for sex in the model, p =.000. Females could be expected to have coping scores 6.4 points higher than males when adjusted for stress levels, as B= 6.351, p =0.001 for sex in the model. For each 1 point increase in Stress Score, the Coping Score could be expected to increase 6.8 points when adjusted for sex, where B = 6.751 and p =0.000. CONCLUSION: Increased prevalence of emotional pre-occupation was only observed among female patients which increased with the increase in stress. Psychological interventions in female HD patients should be strongly considered in addressing emotional pre-occupation coping.