Aim: To understand the real experiences of self-management in haemodialysis patients with self-regulatory fatigue, and to explore the influencing factors and coping strategies for patients with decreased self-management.Design: A qualitative study was carried out using the phenomenological analysis method.Methods: From 5 January to 25 February, 2022, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 haemodialysis patients in Lanzhou, China. Thematic analysis of the data was performed using the NVivo 12 software based on the 7 steps of Colaizzi's method. The study reporting followed the SRQR checklist.Results: Five themes and 13 sub-themes were identified. The main themes were difficulties in fluid restrictions and emotional management, hard to adhere to long-term self-management, uncertainty about self-management, influencing factors are complex and diverse and coping strategies should be further improved.
Conclusion:This study revealed the difficulties, uncertainty, influencing facts and coping strategies of self-management among haemodialysis patients with self-regulatory fatigue.A targeted program should be developed and implemented according to the characteristics of patients to reduce the level of self-regulatory fatigue and improve self-management. Impact: Self-regulatory fatigue has a significant impact on the self-management behaviour of haemodialysis patients. Understanding the real experiences of selfmanagement in haemodialysis patients with self-regulatory fatigue enables medical staff to correctly identify the occurrence of self-regulatory fatigue in time and help patients adopt positive coping strategies to keep effective self-management behaviour.
Patient or Public contribution:Haemodialysis patients who met the inclusion criteria were recruited to participate in the study from a blood purification centre in Lanzhou, China.