The Effect of Video Training on Symptom Burden, Comfort Level and Quality of Life in Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis Treatment

The purpose of hemodialysis treatment; to remove metabolic wastes from the blood, to reduce symptoms and complications in patients, and to increase life expectancy and quality. During HD treatment, many comorbidities, complications and symptoms may occur in patients. Alvarez et al. (2020) found diabetes and hypertension as comorbid diseases in the majority of the patients, and the most common symptoms were found to be fatigue, cramps, hypotension, headache, itching, difficulty concentrating, and dizziness.

In order to increase the success of hemodialysis treatment, the patient should make a lifestyle change, comply with the treatment and his family should support the patient. Compliance with treatment is ensured by the cooperation of the healthcare team with the patient and their relatives. As treatment compliance increases, symptom burden, complication and mortality rates decrease. For this, patients should be provided with planned trainings that are repeated at the beginning of HD treatment and at regular intervals thereafter.

The purpose of patient education; To create a healthy behavioral change in patients, to enable healthcare professionals to establish a more efficient relationship with the patient and his family, to increase the quality of life of the patient and his family, to increase the comfort of life, compliance with treatment, to reduce morbidity and mortality, and to reduce the cost of health expenses. In our country, there is no standard educational content and training calendar in HD units. Most of the lives of HD patients are spent in dialysis units. The majority of the patients spend their time in the dialysis unit for an average of four hours a day, three days a week, depending on the machine. For this reason, it is important for patients to give the training to be given during the dialysis sessions.

The research was carried out as a randomized controlled quasi-experimental study with the aim of examining the effect of video education support on patients who were treated with HD on symptom burden, comfort level and quality of life. The research was carried out in Muğla Fethiye State Hospital Hemodialysis Center and Private Fethiye Can Dialysis Center between April 2021 and July 2021. The universe of the research; Patients who received treatment at Fethiye State Hospital Hemodialysis Center and Private Fethiye Can Dialysis Center were formed. The number of patients in Fethiye State Hospital Hemodialysis Center is 44, the number of patients in Private Can Dialysis Center is 137, and a total of 181 patients receive hemodialysis treatment in two centers.

Sample of the Research; The sample size of the study was 0.25 effect size, 0.05 error level, 95% confidence interval and 95% power of 4 measurements in both groups, 18 interventions and 18 control groups, in order to be able to analyze the variance in repeated measurements within the factors in the study by using the G power 3.1.5 software program. It has been calculated that a total of 36 participants are needed.