Psychological Distress for Patients with Renal Failure at Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Renal failure is a chronic illness that leads to great psychological suffering of the patients under dialysis treatment. the aim of the current study was to evaluate the degree of psychological suffering among dialysis patients in Yarmouk Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq and to establish a correlation between the psychological suffering and demographical characteristics of the study sample.

Methodology: The cross-sectional study was done at the Yarmouk Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq on a sample of 50 patients in the haemodialysis unit. The convenience sample was used to collect the sample and the questionnaire was divided into three parts the first part was used to collect demographic data and the second was composed of two standardized measures of anxiety and depression. Pre-existing standardized measures were used to determine the reliability and validity of the research instruments.

Results: The findings identify significant psychological distress in the patient group, which is manifested through the overall scores of mean=1.18 (SD=1.08) in the depression scale and 1.12 (SD=0.92) in the anxiety scale.

Conclusion: The research concluded that patients under dialysis in the Yarmouk Teaching Hospital experience psychological distress, and the distress depends on the social and demographic background of the patients. This would require the combination of psychological evaluation and medication in addition to the conventional medical procedure of addressing this category of patients.