Self-management and associated factors among patients with end-stage renal disease undergoing hemodialysis at health facilities in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Introduction: Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) face multifaceted problems arising from complications of the disease and dialysis that require consistent and, effective self-management from the patients' side, on top of the management offered by health care professionals. However, little is known about the level of self-management and influencing factors among patients with ESRD undergoing hemodialysis in the study area. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess self-management and associated factors of patients with ESRD undergoing hemodialysis at health facilities in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional survey was used to recruit 169 patients with ESRD undergoing hemodialysis from six private health facilities between March and April 2016. Data were collected using an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire inquiring about patients' self-management and associated factors. Data were entered into EpiData Version 3.1 and analyzed using the descriptive, correlation, and logistic regression using the SPSS Version 22.0 statistical software.

Results: The mean age of the patients was 49.86±15.58 years. The majority of the respondents (69.8%) were male, and 65.7% of them were married. Half of the respondents (50.3%) had diploma and above educational level. The great majority of the respondents (93.5%) were on hemodialysis for less than 5 years, and 53.3% of them underwent dialysis twice a week. More than half (57.4%) of the patients had low levels of self-management. There were statistically significant positive associations between self-management and education (adjusted OR [AOR] =6.25, 95% CI =1.40, 27.85), knowledge (AOR =5.5, 95% CI =2.15, 14.03), and self-efficacy (AOR =4.73, 95% CI =1.95, 11.48), while there were statistically significant negative associations between self-management and anxiety (AOR =3.19, 95% CI =1.28, 7.95) and depression (AOR =2.68, 95% CI =1.01, 7.05, P <0.05).

Conclusion: Patients' education, knowledge, self-efficacy, anxiety, and depression were found to be independent predictors of self-management.