Psycho-social aspects of serious renal disease and dialysis: a review of the literature

The most severe form of kidney disease is renal failure, a life-threatening condition known as end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Though social work intervention is an integral part of the response to serious kidney disease, the topic has been noticeably absent in the discipline's literature. This article synthesizes the research on the psycho-social aspects of end-stage renal disease, with a particular focus on dialysis patients at different stages of the life cycle. Social work services are particularly important to dialysis patients because (1) ESRD influences patients' psycho-social environments and (2) the psycho-social environments in which ESRD sufferers live impact the course of the disease and physical well-being. Intervention issues are discussed. The review found that most research on this topic lacks adequate sampling to generalize to the ESRD population. Future research needs to address this shortcoming and increase sample sizes to allow for statistical controls.