The relationship between fear of COVID 19 and quality of life in patients with hemodialysis treatment for end-stage renal failure

ABSTRACT This research was done in a cross-sectional and correlational type to determine the relationship between fear of Covid 19 and quality of life in patients receiving hemodialysis treatment for end-stage renal disease. The sample of the research consisted of 110 patients who received HD treatment during the Covid 19 pandemic. Data were collected with "Patient Identification Form", "Short Form-36 (SF-36)" and "Covid 19 Fear Scale". Data were collected using face-to-face interview method during the time the patients came to the hemodialysis center. SPSS package program (16.0) was used to evaluate the data. In the research it was determined that there was no relationship between the fear of Covid 19 and socio-demographic characteristics, characteristics of chronic kidney disease and its treatment, characteristics of hemodialysis treatment, and characteristics of Covid 19 infection/disease (p>0.05). Fear of Covid 19 and physical role difficulty (r=-0.322/p=0.001), energy-vitality-vitality (r=-0.263/p=0.006), mental health (r=-0.316), which are sub-dimensions of the SF-36 quality of life scale /p=0.001), social functionality (r=-0.235/p=0.013), pain (r=-0.226/p=0.017) and general health perceptions (r=-0.406/p=0.000) were statistically significant and negative. It was found that there is a weak relationship between two directions. As a result, the fear of Covid 19 negatively affects the quality of life of patients receiving hemodialysis treatment. It is important to evaluate the impact on the quality of life due to the fear of Covid 19 of patients receiving hemodialysis treatment during the pandemic and in other pandemic periods that may develop later, and to plan nursing care that will increase the quality of life. Key words: End Stage renal failure, Hemodialysis treatment, Fear of Covid 19, Quality of life