Effectiveness of nurse led intervention on kidney transplant recipients at a tertiary care hospital - A randomized...

To assess the effectiveness of nurse led intervention on self-care behavior, psychological symptoms, and quality of life among kidney transplant recipients.

The study was a prospective, randomized controlled, parallel group, interventional, single-center trial with two arms (registry no: CTRI/2018/12/016630, www.ctri.nic.in ). It comprised 120 kidney transplant recipients attending transplant clinic who had completed 3 months after transplantation. They were randomized to receive either standard care ( n = 60) or standard care plus nurse led intervention ( n = 60). Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected using self-structured questionnaire, self-care behavior was assessed by self-care practice checklist, and Morisky Green Levine Adherence Scale. Psychological symptoms and quality of life were assessed by Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale 21 and WHO-QOL BREF, respectively. Outcome measures were assessed at baseline, 6 months, and 9 months postrandomization.

The mean age of the participants was 40.05 ± 10.91 years in experimental and 39.45 ± 10.09 years in control group. Baseline characteristics in the groups were comparable. Nurse led intervention showed significant difference in the self-care behavior (self-care practice total [ F = 28.30, P < 0.001]; adherence to therapy [ U = 1436.0, P = 0.03]), psychological symptoms (stress [ F = 35.74, P < 0.001], anxiety [ F = 46.37, P < 0.001], depression [ F = 65.92, P < 0.001]) between the experimental and control groups. No significant differences were seen in QOL except in physical domain.

Nurse led intervention with follow-up improved self-care behavior and reduced psychological symptoms among kidney transplant recipients.