Stress Coping Attitudes of Hemodialysis and Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the stress coping strategies of hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients.

MATERIAL and METHODS: This cross sectional study included 100 hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients from Erciyes University Health Application and Research Centre and a private dialysis centre. Patient information form and the Assessment Scale for Coping Attitudes (COPE), which included the descriptive properties of the patients and information on the disease, were used to collect the data. Student’ t test and analysis of variance were used in statistical analysis.

RESULTS: Emotional focused coping attitude was the most frequently used coping attitude by the hemodialysis and the peritoneal dialysis patients. The first coping method was religious coping, the second was positive reinterpretation and growth, and the third was active coping method which is a problem-oriented coping method. The mean score of ‘Use of emotional social support’ of hemodialysis patients was statistically significantly lower when compared with the peritoneal dialysis patients’, and the ‘denial’ mean score statistically significantly higher. There was a negative correlation between age and planning COPE, and a positive correlation between chronic kidney failure duration and behavioral disengagement.

CONCLUSION: In our study, emotional-oriented coping attitude was the most frequently used coping attitude in both hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients. Religious coping was the first amongst the coping methods.