PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC-RENAL-FAILURE AND THEIR ABILITY TO COPE

The subject studied in this paper, describing uremic patients' use of coping strategies and their sense of coherence, was 48 consecutively s elected patients with chronic renal failure at a Swedish hospital. The questionnaires used were the Jalowiec Coping Scale (JCS-40) and the S ense of Coherence Scale (SOC). The results showed that the patients us ed a variety of coping strategies, such as maintaining control, findin g out more about the situation and hoping. In the use of coping styles , the confrontational style was the most favoured one, compared with t he palliative and the emotive styles. There was a significant distinct ion between the predialysis patients and those on dialysis treatment c oncerning the use of strategies and coping styles. Patients on dialysi s treatment showed significantly higher scores in overall strategies a nd in confrontational and palliative coping styles. The results reveal ed significant correlations between the JCS and the SOC scores, age an d duration of kidney disease. Knowledge of the patients' commonly used coping strategies and sense of coherence is important when nursing ca re is being planned for the patient.