The Effect of Rehabilitation on Depression in Elderly Patients undergoing Hemodialysis Treatment

Introduction: Hemodialysis is a stressful process and one of the life events is known to cause depression in elderly hemodialysis patients. The present study was conducted with the aim of the effect of rehabilitation on depression in elderly patients undergoing hemodialysis treatment in Shiraz.Material and Methods: This research is a semi-experimental study with before and after method, which was conducted on all elderly people (۱۴ people) under hemodialysis who referred to Shiraz Dialysis Center in ۱۴۰۰. The rehabilitation program was implemented for ۶ weeks with the participation of experts in the fields of nursing, physiotherapy, and clinical psychology. The data collection tool was the Beck Depression Questionnaire, which was completed before and after the rehabilitation program by the researcher's assistant during the interview with the patients. Then the data was analyzed using spss۲۰ software and descriptive statistics tests, paired t-test, one-way analysis of variance.Result: The average age of the patients was ۵۶.۸±۱۱.۱ years, ۶۱% were male and ۹۷.۱% were married. ۴۱% of the patients were illiterate and ۷۱.۱% were unemployed. The average duration of dialysis in these patients was ۱±۱.۱ years. Data analysis showed a significant difference between the average depression score before rehabilitation (۲۶.۱±۱.۳) and after rehabilitation (۱۱.۵±۱.۱). In the comparative analysis of depression index in hemodialysis patients by individual characteristics and duration of dialysis, the results showed that there is a significant difference in the average level of depression according to age, sex, marital status, education level and duration of dialysis in the studied patients. It was not possible, but the level of depression in working patients was significantly lower than that of non-working patients, and based on the independent t-test, this difference was statistically significant.Conclusion: With the implementation of rehabilitation, a significant difference was made in the depression of hemodialysis patients, so that the implementation of rehabilitation is associated with the improvement of the living conditions of hemodialysis patients, therefore, it is suggested that rehabilitation programs be implemented with the participation of experts from different fields of nursing, physiotherapy and clinical psychology in hemodialysis centers. Also, in the next researches, the impact of new energy programs on the number of times of hemodialysis, blood indicators, mental health and patient satisfaction should be studied.

Keywords:

Old aging , Rehabilitation , depression , hemodialysis , nursing.