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

Abstract

Introduction: The study was performed to examine the effects of death anxi-ety on diet-fluid restriction non-adherence in hemodialysis patients.Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional, and correlational study was per-formed with 118 hemodialysis patients who received treatment in the dialysisunit of a university hospital and a state hospital in Elazı g, eastern Turkey. Thestudy data were obtained with the “Descriptive Data Form”, “Death AnxietyScale”, and “Dietary and Fluid Restriction Non-Adherence Scale”.Findings: The average Death Anxiety Scale total score of the patients was10.00 ± 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 was1.16 ± 1.13. The independent variable Death Anxiety Scale significantly andnegatively affected the dependent variable “Duration of non-adherence withdiet”, “Degree of non-adherence with diet”, “Duration of non-adherence withfluid restriction”, and “Degree of non-adherence with fluid restriction”.Discussion: Hemodialysis patients face serious death anxiety, their degree ofnon-adherence with diet-fluid restriction was low as death anxiety scoresincreased, and the degree of non-adherence with diet-fluid restrictiondecreased.