Institutional-related factors influencing self-care practices among patients with kidney failure attending Kitui County Referral Hospital

Abstract

Background: An irreversible decline in the kidney's overall function is known as kidney failure. The rise in lifestyle-related illnesses like  diabetes and hypertension, cause complications like kidney failure. The main objective was to determine institution-related factors  influencing self-care practices among patients with kidney failure attending Kitui County referral hospital.

Methods: The study employed  analytical cross-sectional design to collect data from a sample size of 94 patients with kidney failure. Census sampling technique was used to sample the study participants. The questionnaire was pretested at Mwingi level 4 hospital. Interviewer administered  questionnaires were used to collect data. Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 26 was used to analyze quantitative data.  Chi-square/fisher exact tests were employed to determine associations between independent and dependent variables at a p value < 0.05  and 95% confidence interval. Data was presented in pie charts and frequency tables.

Results: Majority of the study participants had  low level of self-care practice. The institution related factors influencing self-care practices among patients with kidney failure attending  Kitui County referral hospital were health education (X² value=11.899; df=1; p-value=0.001) and waiting time (X² value=14.178; df=2;  pvalue=0.001).

Conclusions: The study recommended that health-care providers need to empower and encourage patients with kidney  failure to improve self-care practices.