Fatigue and its Related Factors in Patients on Hemodialysis

Kim, Hye Ryoung

Abstract

The Purpose of this study was to identify characteristics of fatigue and the relationship between fatigue and related factors in patients on hemodialysis. This study was a survey study using a cross-sectional design. The subjects for this study were 101 patients on hemodialysis who were registered in the six hemodialysis clinics among a total of eleven clinics in Seoul. The period of data collection was from February 28, 1995 to May 2, 1995. Data were collected through an interview with a structured packet and the physiological data. The tools used in this study were the Visual Analogue Scale-Fatigue developed by Lee et al(1990) and translated by Lee (1991), the fatigue interview schedule developed by this reseacher, Zung's self rating depression scale (Zung, 1965), the self-efficacy scale developed by Sherer et al(1982) and the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (NSSQ) translated by Oh (1984). The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequency, range), Pearson correlation coefficients and Stepwise multiple regression. The results were as follows: 1. Characteristics of Fatigue of hemodialysis patients: 1) 79 of 101 hemodialysis patients complained fatigue. 2) The mean fatigue score as measured by the VAS-F was 36.2mm. 3) The mean duration of fatigue was 2.9 hours 2. Characteristics of fatigue related factors: 1) The physiologic factor which included Hgb, Hct, BUN, creatinine, potassium and inter-dialytic weight gain deviated from normal range. 2) The psychological factor which included depression and self-efficacy was about the same level as for patients with other chronic diseases. 3) The environmental factor which included social support had wide variation. 3. The relationship between fatigue and related factors: 1) Interdialytic weight gain in the physiological factor was the only valuable with fatigue (p<.05) 2) The relationship between fatigue and the psychological factor of depression showed a positive and strong correlation (p<.05). According to the findings of this study, fatigue was highly correlated with the depression, This indicates that nurses should try to assess and control psychological factors when patients complain of fatigue rather than just considering physiological factors. Nursing has to develop effective nursing interventions to reduce fatigue in patients with chronic diseases using the relationship between fatigue and physiological, psychological and environmental factors.