Empowerment Program based on BASNEF Model and the General Health of Hemodialysis Patients

Background: Hemodialysis patients encounter with various physical, mental, and social health problems. Empowerment programs may facilitate behavioral changes and improve general health. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of an empowerment program on the general health of hemodialysis patients. Methods: This is a randomized controlled clinical trial that performed on 60 patients referred to the hemodialysis center of Kashan University of Medical Sciences in Iran. The participants were randomly assigned to two groups. The intervention group received 8 sessions of empowerment program and the control group received routine care. Data were collected by Goldberg’s general health questionnaire (GHQ) and analyzed using Chi-square, independent and paired t-test in SPSS v.13. Results:   The means of overall GHQ scores were significantly decreased at post-test in the intervention group but the difference was not statistically significant between the groups (p= 0.2). However, the difference between the mean scores of GHQ subscales, including "Somatic symptoms", "Anxiety & insomnia" and "Social dysfunction" were significant (p< 0.05). Using paired t-tests, it was found that general health and its subscales in the intervention group were significantly different before and after the empowerment program based on BASNEF model (p< 0.05). There was no significant difference between the mean scores of general health and its subscales in the control group at the beginning and the end of the study (p= 0.2). Conclusion: The empowerment program was effective on the general health of patients undergoing hemodialysis.  Using the program is suggested for these patients.