Effect of an educational program on awareness about peritoneal dialysis among patients on hemodialysis

Several years after the initial usage of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), the percentage of patients using this continues to be very low constituting about 15% of all patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). In this study, we attempt to define the impact of an educational program for improving the use of CAPD. This is a quasi-experimental study (before-after) conducted with educational materials including workshop, teaching by booklet and showing educational films, performed in Urmia, Iran. We designed a questionnaire for data collection and enrolled 160 patients with an aim-based sampling method. We used descriptive statistics and Friedman test for analysis in SPSS software version 11.5. The overall patients' information about CAPD defined by total scoring was as follows: 75% had little information; 19% had moderate information and 6% of patients were well informed. All the information levels increased after intervention. Our study suggests that the poor utilization of CAPD is due to relative un-awareness about PD and/or lack of adequate facilities.