Contributing factors for therapeutic diet adherence in patients receiving haemodialysis treatment: an integrative review

Aims and objectives The objective of this integrative review is to identify the factors that contribute to diet adherence in people suffering from kidney disease who are receiving haemodialysis treatment. Background Adherence to the therapeutic regimen determines therapeutic success, quality of life and survival in patients on haemodialysis. Lack of diet adherence ranges from 25%–86% in patients receiving haemodialysis treatment and affects patient morbidity and mortality. Design An integrative literature review was conducted based on the criteria of Whittemore & Knafl. Methods A literature review was performed by two members of the team using twelve databases including PubMed, CUIDEN, CINAHL, The Cochrane Library and ScienceDirect. Results The main issues identified after analysing the results were as follows: the intrinsic barriers (age, dialysis time, motivation, perceived benefit, distorted perception of adherence) and facilitators (self‐efficacy, perception of disease, perception of control), extrinsic barriers (family dysfunction, lack of social support, cultural patterns of consumption of food) and facilitators (social support, relationship with healthcare providers), and interventions to encourage diet adherence, such as the use of motivational interviewing in educational interventions, and the training and education of relevant professionals in communication skills. Conclusions Diet nonadherence remains a serious health problem and suffers from a lack of solid criteria to identify this condition. The onset of depression signs and the level of social support available to the patient should be assessed, because these are important factors that determine adherence to treatment. Relevance to Clinical Practice Professionals should be trained in health education and communication techniques to contribute to the patient's self‐management and motivation for diet adherence. Controlled and randomised clinical studies involving predialysis stages should be performed to investigate the impact of the assessment and control of barriers to diet adherence.