Resilience, pain self-efficacy and health-related quality of life of people on hemodialysis

Design: A cross-sectional study design was chosen.

Methods: Data were collected from 361 adults receiving hemodialysis in hospital and private settings in a Southern European country over six months. This was done in a semi-structured interview using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), the Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ), and the Kidney Disease Quality of Life (KDQOL-36) questionnaire.

Results: The results indicated that the higher the resilience, the higher the pain self-efficacy. In addition, pain self-efficacy was found to have a positive effect on minimising both the symptoms and burden of the disease, leading to better quality of life.

Conclusion: The present study showed that the level of resilience was proportional to pain self-efficacy with limited effect of demographic parameters. In addition, both resilience and pain self-efficacy affected health-related quality of life in people on hemodialysis. Using up-to-date assessment tools and implementing appropriate pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions in everyday clinical practice can improve the quality of life of people on hemodialysis.