I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Introduction => Introduce Yourself => Topic started by: nightscape on January 03, 2011, 06:26:16 PM
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So I guess I'll introduce myself. My name is Josh and I am a caregiver for my younger brother who is 24 years old and doing home hemodialysis. I help my brother start up and finish dialysis 5 days a week in my house, my wife helps as well. He has been on dialysis for 3 years now, the last 6 months being home hemodialysis.
On a side note, I will be creating a post within the next week or so about a thesis study I am conducting. I am working on my Masters of Social Work and am writing a thesis about the social service needs for young adults (ages 18-30) undergoing dialysis treatment. I am looking for participants that wouldn't mind sharing their coping techniques, perceive barriers and resources utilized to help with their dialysis treatment. I will make a more official post later, but if anyone is interested please shoot me a message, your answers could help with implementing interventions and policies that target young dialysis patients.
Thank you for your time, I love seeing a community polling together, and even though I am not on dialysis myself I do deal with it daily and I hate it as well :)
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G'day nightscape and :welcomesign;.
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Hi Josh and welcome to IHD. I'm so glad you found us! I hope your brother finds this site home as well. We help lots of people of all ages. I know this site lets me vent to people who know what I'm going through where my family and friends can't relate. I hope you get some people from this site to participate in your study. I'm 50 so I guess I'm out? ;D
Welcome to IHD~
Rerun, Moderator :welcomesign;
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:welcomesign; to IHD...your brother is lucky indeed to have the support of you and your wife. Home D really is the better option all round in so many ways.
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What do you see as being the biggest difference in the needs of, say, a 25 year old dialysis patient and a, say, 45 year old dialysis patient? What kind of special interventions and policies do you see as being necessary for the 25 year old but not for the 45 year old?
Some dialyzors in your target age group might have children themselves. Are you going to address the special needs that a young mother or father might need to have addressed? What about the young mother or father who might find themselves as single parents?
I'll be very interested to read your replies. Welcome to our community!
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Thank you all for your warm welcomes and interest in my study. I just finished making a post under the general dialysis section about my study, which can be found here http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=21465.msg355271#new
MooseMom good questions. The biggest difference between younger adults on dialysis and middle ages or older adults on dialysis is that they are at different developmental stages, which in turn means that they will generally utilize different coping techniques. Some of my hypotheses are that younger adults utilize peer support while middle aged and older adults utilize family support support more often. I believe perceived barriers would be different as well. Younger adults are at that stage where they want to make personal commitments such as being a spouse, finding a meaningful career, go to college, etc. They might see dialysis as hindering their options of being independent and making something of their life. Middle aged adults and older adults might have different barriers. This is all hypothetical and is why I am doing this study, I may be completely wrong and they all use the same coping techniques and have the same barriers. There is a ton of research on middle age and older adults on dialysis, I will compare my results to current literature and see if there are any differences.
This study is really just focusing on the individual on dialysis and not the parents or family, but some of my questions do ask how involved family/friends are with the dialysis treatment and how it affects your family (this could be where they would talk about their own child if they have any). If they do have a child and they meet my age group I hope they could share what special needs they require and what barriers they have. You do bring up a very good point and I believe that parents who are going through dialysis can be a study by itself, and this will be mentioned in my thesis for future researchers. :)
Thanks for your time and feedback!
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If you don't mind, I'd like to respond to you on your other thread!
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Hey Josh! Welcome to IHD!! I just joined this site a few weeks ago and it has really been a life saver for me. I hope your brother takes advantage of the totally rad community of dialysis patients out here for support!
Your study sounds really interesting. Im 33 and have only been on dialysis for less than 6 months and Im still figuring out how to cope! Welcome to the group!!
-Leslie
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:welcomesign; Josh!