The effect of exercise during hemodialysis on fatigue and self-efficacy in patients: a blind randomized clinical trial

Abstract Aim: Due to the increased prevalence of chronic diseases such as kidney failure, physical, mental and social needs of these patients have also increased and their well-being seems essential. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of exercise during hemodialysis on fatigue and self-efficacy of hemodialysis patients. Method and Material: This study is a clinical trial; study sample consisted of 46 patients undergoing hemodialysis and who had referred to hemodialysis center of Sahid Madani Hospital in Tabriz; availability sampling method had been used based on the inclusion criteria and with a consent for participating in the study; the sample had been selected from research population and have been divided randomly into two groups of control and experiment. The measuring tools for collecting data included Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) and Sherer General Self-efficacy scale (SGSES) which were used after determining validity and reliability. After collecting data, the results had been analyzed using SPSS 20 software. For describing quantitative data, the symmetry of the mean and standard deviation had been used and for qualitative data, frequency and percentage had been used and for comparing two groups, analysis of covariance had been used. Results: The results of the current study showed that all patients with chronic renal failure suffered from fatigue and their selfefficacy decreased. Self-Efficacy in patients from the experiment group significantly increased, but it was not significant (p-value = 0.06) and after treatment, fatigue was significantly reduced in the intervention group (p-value <05). Discussion: The results of this study showed that exercising during hemodialysis not only reduces fatigue of these patients, but also leads to improvement of self-efficacy and exercise is recommended in dialysis centers.