Research Article The Psychosocial Experience of Patients with End-Stage Renal Disease and Its Impact on Quality of Life: Findings from a Needs Assessment to Shape a Service

Copyright © 2013 J. Finnegan-John and V. J. omas. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background. A needs assessment was conducted on renal patients registered to a leading hospital trust in London in order to explore their psychological, social, and spiritual needs.e aim of the needs assessment was to create an evidence base for the development of a comprehensive health psychology service to run concurrently with a renal counselling support service within the department. Methodology. is study utilised a series of semistructured face-to-face interviews and focus groups with renal patients and their carers, to explore how ESRD impacted quality of life. Results. A thematic analysis was undertaken. Seven emergent themes were identi�ed that in�uenced the quality of life of people with EDRD: physiological impact, impact of treatment, impact on daily life, psychological impact, impact on relationships, social impact and coping responses. Conclusion. e needs assessment clearly identi�ed that ESRD carries with it emotional, physical, psychological, social, and existential burdens. e data from this needs assessment study has created an evidence base upon which future health psychology services can be built within this leading UK hospital. 1. Psychosocial Effects of Kidney Disease End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is a debilitating, chroni