The purpose of this study was to test a hypothesis explaining direct and indirect relationships among the factors affecting self-care behaviors of kidney transplant patients, based on self-determination theory.
Data were collected from 222 outpatients with kidney transplantation. The endogenous and exogenous variables of the hypothetical model consisted of healthcare provider's autonomy support, duration after kidney transplantation, basic psychological need satisfaction, autonomous and controlled motivation, depression, and self-care behaviors. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS/WIN 24.0 and AMOS 24.0.
The hypothetical model demonstrated a good fit: RMSEA=.06, SRMR=.04, TLI=.94, CFI=.97. Statistically significant explanatory variables for the self-care behaviors of kidney transplant patients were duration after transplantation and basic psychological need satisfaction. Healthcare provider's autonomy support was indirectly significant, while autonomous motivation, controlled motivation and depression were not statistically significant for self-care behaviors. The variables accounted for 59.5% of the self-care behaviors of kidney transplant patients.
It is necessary to develop an autonomy support program for healthcare providers to enhance the self-care behaviors of kidney transplant patients. Preventing the deterioration of self-care behaviors will be possible by conducting this program at one year and six years post-transplantation. In addition, the results suggest the need to developing personalized autonomy support programs for healthcare providers that can meet the basic psychological need satisfaction of kidney transplant patients.
This study was conducted to develop an Empowerment Education Program (EEP) for kidney transplant patients and to test the program's effects on uncertainty, self-care ability, and compliance.
The research was conducted using a nonequivalent control group with a pretest-posttest design. The participants were 53 outpatients (experimental group: 25, control group: 28) who were receiving hospital treatment after kidney transplants. After the pre-test, patients in the experimental group underwent a weekly EEP for six weeks. The post-test was conducted immediately after, and four weeks after the program's completion in the same manner as the pre-test. For the control group, we conducted a post-test six and ten weeks after the pre-test, without and program intervention. A repeated measure ANOVA was performed to compare the change scores on main outcomes.
Uncertainty was significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control group, both immediately after (t=-3.84,
Kidney transplant patients who underwent an EEP showed a decrease in uncertainty and an improvement in self-care ability and compliance. Thus, our findings confirmed that an EEP can be an independent intervention method for improving and maintaining the health of kidney transplant patients.
The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand and describe the essence and the structure of lived experience of people with kidney transplantation. Initially, nine individual interviews were conducted to gather data regarding their subjective experiences. And two focus group interviews were utilized to validate or discard the themes that were emerged from the analysis using Colaizzi's method. Among 17 participants, 13 had living related kidney donations, one living unrelated, and the remaining two cadavor donations. About 130 significant statements were extracted and these were clustered into 11 themes. All participants felt anxiety and fear toward the rejection of transplantation and the complication of immunosuppressive drugs. Although they were initially satisfied with their life after kidney transplantation most of them lost a self-confidence and experienced loneliness, depression, and despair. Most of the participants also felt guilty for not being able to accomplish their appropriate roles in the family. They also had financial difficulties and social restrictions. However, they overcame these psychosocial distress by exercising, working and sharing love with others. They also could overcome it by living a religious life and by working to help others with kidney transplantations. Most of them felt gratitude toward the donor and did not have a psychological rejection toward the kidney transplanted. The results of the study might help nurses who work with people with kidney transplantations in establishing and implementing an effective nursing intervention by understanding their lived experience.