Aspectos emocionais e dificuldades enfrentadas por pacientes renais crônicos

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a progressive condition that affects the kidneys, causing physical and psychological problems. Hemodialysis, frequently used to treat CKD, is seen as debilitating by patients, affecting their personal and professional lives. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the emotional aspects and difficulties that chronic kidney disease patients experience during their hemodialysis treatment at a dialysis center in Caxias-MA. METHODOLOGY: This is a quantitative, cross-sectional and documentary research with 122 chronic kidney disease patients during the months of November and December 2023 at the Dr. Humberto Coutinho Dialysis Center. A previously prepared questionnaire was used to survey the socioeconomic profile of the studied population, and the HADS instrument (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) was used to assess anxiety and depression. For data analysis, the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program and the chi-square test were used to assess the significance of the variables.RESULTS: It was observed that 91% of the interviewees are unemployed, 44.3% have a monthly family income of up to one minimum wage. Around 62.3% do not live in the city where they undergo hemodialysis, and 32.8% need to travel for three hours or more to reach the facility. Furthermore, regarding depression levels, 5.7% of patients were classified as probable cases, while 28.7% were identified as possible cases of mild depression. Concerning anxiety, 15.6% of patients were considered probable cases, and additionally, 33.6% were identified as possible cases of anxiety. These numbers indicate a significant prevalence of depressive and anxious symptoms in the studied sample. A negative correlation was detected between depression and anxiety related to the health of patients undergoing hemodialysis treatment for chronic kidney disease. CONCLUSION: Adapting to a new lifestyle entails a series of changes in the routine of these patients, resulting from the demands imposed by chronic kidney disease. It is essential to develop social support strategies, involving a multidisciplinary team, to serve this population that depends on hemodialysis.