End-stage renal disease patients and their spouses : Coping, perceived consequences, and health-related quality of life

Sammanfattning: The general aim was to study use and efficiency of coping strategies to handle problems occasioned by illness and treatment among three groups of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients (n=86) and their spouses (n=55). A sample of the Swedish population (n=519) was studied as a reference. Health-related quality of life among the patients and the spouses was investigated, as were perceived efficiency of coping and perceived consequences of illness and treatment.The study designs were descriptive, correlational, and comparative, and questionnaires and an unstructured interview were used for data collection.The results show that the optimistic coping style was the most widely used among both patients and spouses, and it was also considered as the most effective to deal with stressful illness/treatment aspects. Age, gender, educational level, and ethnicity differences were identified. Evasive, emotive, and fatalistic coping were associated with low perceived efficiency in handling illness/treatment aspects. High efficiency in handling illness/treatment aspects was associated with higher emotional well-being, and a better family life for both patients and spouses. The major categories of interview statements concerned with the perceived consequences of illness/treatment were: "Wish for normality", "Wish to manage one's own life", " Deprivation of one's normal life", and "Concerns". Together, these categories constituted the overall theme; "Wish for independence and normality".