Effect of Psycho Education on Depression and Anxiety Symptoms in Patients on Hemodialysis

BACKGROUND Hemodialysis as a solution for patients with chronic renal failure is a stressful process. Anxiety and depression after hemodialysis could have negative impacts on quality of life, treatment and prognosis of the disease. Some studies indicated that educating patients prior to hemodialysis could enhance patients' quality of life and increase the likelihood of their survival. OBJECTIVES This study investigated psychological impacts of psycho education on anxiety and depression symptoms in patients under dialysis. PATIENTS AND METHODS This was a prospective, experimental intervention study with pretest and post-test. Eligible patients (n = 60) were selected randomly from dialysis center of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Sari in 2009. Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) score of patients were eight or greater. They were divided into two matched groups. In one group, patients were given psycho education during three sessions of one-hour, while patients in the control group did not receive any education. HADS was completed for both groups before dialysis and one month after the end of educational sessions. The data were compared and analyzed using paired t-test and Chi-square test. RESULTS Psycho education decreased depression score (P < 0.001) and the HADS (P = 0.008) significantly. These decreases were not significant for anxiety scores of patients (P = 0.185). CONCLUSION This research indicated that psycho education based on the designed protocol decreased the scores of depression and total scores of HADS.