The Role of Caregiver Burden in Quality of Life and Perception of Patients with Chronic Kidney Failure on Hemodialysis

Background: Acute kidney failure is a common complication in critically ill patients of intensive care units.Objectives: The objective of this study was to examine the role of caregiver burden on quality of life and perception of patients with kidney failure.Methods: This descriptive-analytical study followed a correlational design. The statistical population included 191 patients with chronic kidney failure in the age range of 30 to 50 years old, who underwent hemodialysis at hospitals of Zahedan within 6 months, during year 2014. Overall, 54 patients were selected using the convenience sampling method. The measurement tools were the caregiver burden inventory (Novak and Guest, 1989), the quality of life scale (Rand, 1995), and the experience and perception of suffering scale (Schulz et al., 2010).Results: The results were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis. The results of the current study indicated that caregiver burden was positively and significantly correlated with physical and mental dimensions of quality of life and it was significantly and negatively related to physical and mental dimensions of perception of suffering. In addition, the results of regression analysis revealed that caregiver burden predicted 0.05 of mental and physical quality of life, 0.07 of physical perception of suffering, and 0.05 of mental perception of suffering.Conclusions: Therefore, development of community-based services, such as short-term hospitalizations, psychological and vocational rehabilitations, and follow-up treatments at home, which are among the main requirements of caregivers, need to be taken into consideration in national mental health programs.