The effects of death anxiety on diet‐fluid restriction non‐adherence in hemodialysis patients

Abstract

IntroductionThe study was performed to examine the effects of death anxiety on diet‐fluid restriction non‐adherence in hemodialysis patients.MethodsThis descriptive, cross‐sectional, and correlational study was performed with 118 hemodialysis patients who received treatment in the dialysis unit of a university hospital and a state hospital in Elazığ, eastern Turkey. The study data were obtained with the “Descriptive Data Form”, “Death Anxiety Scale”, and “Dietary and Fluid Restriction Non‐Adherence Scale”.FindingsThe average Death Anxiety Scale total score of the patients was 10.00 ± 4.75. The “Duration of non‐adherence with diet” mean score was 1.66 ± 1.70, “Degree of non‐adherence with diet” mean score was 1.24 ± 1.19, “Duration of non‐adherence with fluid restriction” mean score was 1.61 ± 1.71, and “Degree of non‐adherence with fluid restriction” mean score was 1.16 ± 1.13. The independent variable Death Anxiety Scale significantly and negatively affected the dependent variable “Duration of non‐adherence with diet”, “Degree of non‐adherence with diet”, “Duration of non‐adherence with fluid restriction”, and “Degree of non‐adherence with fluid restriction”.DiscussionHemodialysis patients face serious death anxiety, their degree of non‐adherence with diet‐fluid restriction was low as death anxiety scores increased, and the degree of non‐adherence with diet‐fluid restriction decreased.