Personality and demographic characteristics of well- and poorly-adjusted hemodialysis patients.

Abstract

Forty hemodialysis patients from the Regional Kidney Disease Program (RKDP) Network 7, were assigned to two groups of well and poorly adjusted patients on the basis of ratings of nurse practitioners and patient counselors. The results show that the abbreviated form of the California Personality Inventory (CPI), constructed in the light of significant findings in Adler's previous study, does not meet the standards of validity generalization. The inability to obtain a correlation between the adjustment process and the CPI measurements indicate that we do not confirm Adler's findings. In our study, we show that only one demographic characteristic is significantly correlating with the adjustment process, i.e. married hemodialysis patients probably adjust more successfully than those who are unmarried.

Research strategies for meaningful rehabilitation research.

“…Some research strategies that can avoid these bypaths and yield more useful information will be suggested. For concreteness in communication, we refer particularly to a study by Kessler and Milligan (1979), and we also mention illustrations from Somervill, Veeder, Graw, and Sechovee (1979), and Numan and Barklind(1978).…”

“…Surely it is not the state of marriage per se that facilitates rehabilitation, but some relationships in some marriages that possibly can be fostered in other kinds of relationships. Showing that married people as a group make a statistically significant better adjustment to dialysis, for example (Numan & Barklind (1978), is a defensible effort only if it leads to further studies which identify the determiners; but further studies rarely are forthcoming. An alternative research question which emphasizes manipulate rather than static or quasi-static variables may have greater merit; namely, what manipulable variables facilitate adjustment to disability?…”