Evaluation of self-care behaviors of arteriovenous fistula and affecting factors in patients receiving hemodialysis treatment

The study was conducted in a descriptive type to evaluate the self-care behaviors of patients receiving hemodialysis treatment regarding arteriovenous fistula and the affecting factors. The population of the study consisted of 97 patients who received hemodialysis treatment in Trabzon Health Sciences University Kanuni Training and Research Hospital Hemodialysis Unit, and the sample was 90 patients. The data were collected by face-to-face interview technique using the "Patient Information Form" and the "Scale for Evaluation of Self-Care Behaviors Related to Arteriovenous Fistula in Hemodialysis Patients (ASBHD-AVF)" by researcher between 10 August and 30 December 2021. In the evaluation of the data, number, percentage, mean, median, standard deviation; Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Kruskall Wallis, Dunn test, Mann- Whitney U and Spearman's rho Correlation Analysis were used. In the study, ASBHD-AVF was 61.86±8.01; "Symptom and symptom management" sub-dimension was 25.08±3.07 and "prevention of complications" sub-dimension was 36.78±5.51. It was found that the patients' self-care behaviors related to arteriovenous fistula were significantly affected by the level of education and receiving education on arteriovenous fistula care before hemodialysis treatment (p<0.05). A very high positive correlation between the duration of hemodialysis treatment and the duration of arteriovenous fistula (p<0.001); A weak positive correlation was found between the duration of hemodialysis treatment and the ASBHD score of arteriovenous fistula (p<0.05). Still, a weak positive correlation was found between the arteriovenous fistula duration of the patients, the ASBHD score of the arteriovenous fistula and the sub-dimension score of "symptom and symptom management" (p<0.05). On the other hand, there was a very high positive correlation between the arteriovenous fistula score of the patients, the sub-dimension scores of "Symptom and Symptom Management" and "Prevention of Complications" (p<0.001); A high positive correlation was also found between the "Symptom and Symptom Management" sub-dimension score and the "Prevention of Complications" sub-dimension score (p<0.001).