Aim: the aim of
the study was to assess the stressors and coping strategies used among
hemodilysis patients (HD). To find out whether there is any relation
between these stressors; coping strategies used andpatient
characteristics in North of West Bank.
Methodology: A quantitative, cross-sectional, descriptive analytical
study was carried out to achieve the aim of the study during the period
between Januarys to March 2014. Data collection were took place at three
governmental hospitals and one private hospital, on 120 HD patients of
total 379, using the Hemodialysis Stress Scale (HSS) and Jalowiec Coping
Scale(JCS).
Result: The finding showed that the HD patients were mildly to
moderately stressed according to HSS, the greatest perceived sources of
stress appeared to be "physiological stressors" (mean=2.655) but the
item with the highest percentage was "limitation on time and place for
vacation" (84.2%) which belong to psychological stress subscale, and the
item stress with the least percentage was "dependency on nurses and
technicians"(45%). According to the ways of coping mechanisms, HD
patients seemed to be resorting more to "optimistic coping" (mean=3.086)
followed by "supportant coping" (mean=2.970) while "emotive coping" was
the least coping strategy used (mean=2.125), the coping item with the
highest percentage for using and helpfulness of using was "Prayed or put
your trust in God" (94.8%) for using and (95.6%) for helpfulness of
using. There were significant differences between the psychological
stressors and duration of treatment and a significant difference between
the stressors and coping strategy used, in addition to a significant
difference between the coping strategies and helpfulness of coping.
Conclusion: Maintaining the level of stressors in individuals with ESRD
at minimum and using a proper coping mechanism are the key factors.
Investment in this area of knowledge was justified for their
contribution to improving the quality of life, minimizing potential
complications of this disease, survival of these people and decrease
cost. In addition future researches should be directed at detecting the
predisposing factors that lead the HD patients to be variant in
experiencing the intensity of stress and coping strategies used.