The Effects of an Empowerment Intervention on Renal Transplant Recipients

Abstract

Background: Renal transplantation is a vital treatment for end-stage renal disease. To help improve quality of life after renal transplant surgery, interventions are needed to strengthen the coping skills and self-care behaviors of patients. However, most research studies on self-care after renal transplantation have addressed related factors. Few studies have examined the effects of interventions on renal transplant recipients. Purpose: This study investigated the effects of an empowerment support group on the empowerment levels and self-care behaviors of renal transplant recipients. Methods: This study was a randomized controlled trial. Eligible participants were individuals who had undergone a renal transplant within the past 20 years, were 18 years old or older, were able to read and write in Chinese, and were willing to participate. We recruited 122 renal transplant recipients from two medical centers in southern Taiwan. The renal transplant outpatients were randomly assigned into empowerment support (n = 56) and comparison (n = 66) groups. The developed measures as well as the content, protocols, and the two groups were assessed for reliability and validity. The intervention involved one 2-hour meeting every 2 weeks for a total of six meetings. The topics included goal setting, problem solving, coping with daily stress, seeking social support, and staying motivated. The sessions consisted of introductions that highlighted the topic, group discussions, identifying areas of difficulty with self-care behaviors after renal transplant, and developing a set of goals and strategies to overcome these problems. Results: The empowerment group reported significant increases both in terms of level of empowerment (F = 5.29, p = .023) based on age and time interaction (F = 9.86, p < .001) and in terms of self-care behaviors (F = 7.15, p = .009). Moreover, these increases were significantly larger than the increases recorded by the comparison group. In addition, these increases were particularly large in the older empowerment-group participants with lower pretest scores for empowerment. Conclusions: Empowerment support may be critical to improve the empowerment and self-care behaviors of renal transplant patients. The results of this study may be applied to improve patient education and empowerment programs for renal transplant patients. Furthermore, these programs may be adjusted to take into consideration the learning preferences or needs of different age groups.

The Effects of Empowerment Education on Daily Dairy Intake in Community-Dwelling of Older Asian Women

“…According to the research results, the experimental group’s daily dairy intake self-efficacy, intention, and behavior improved significantly from T0 to T1, and from T0 to T2, indicating that the empowerment education program had effectively improved the dairy intake self-efficacy, dairy intake intention, and daily dairy intake behavior of the older women. These findings are consistent with those reported by Hsiao et al (2016) [ 29 ], who developed empowerment education intervention measures for kidney transplant patients and found that these measures effectively improved the self-care behavior of such patients.…”

“…In this process, mutual participation is seen as a crucial dimension, the empowerer adopts open communication with the empowered; the empowerer can provide the necessary information and create a supportive environment. The empowerment concept has been widely applied in self-care for a wide variety of diseases, and the results have been positive [ 28 , 29 , 30 ]. At present, however, few studies have evaluated the implementation and effectiveness of health education aimed at influencing the daily dairy intake behavior of older Asian women.…”

Empowerment-Based Education in Urological Patients: A Scoping Review

“…Ten randomized controlled trials (Berry et al, 2013; Burkert et al, 2011; Chambers et al, 2019; Glazener et al, 2011; Hsiao et al, 2016; Parker et al, 2009; Penedo et al, 2006; Santa Mina et al, 2015; Weber et al, 2004; Wootten et al, 2017);…”

“…The health professional should act as a facilitator while ensuring that the group is patient-driven to ensure that the agenda items are met in a format that is acceptable to the patient (Simpson, 2015). Support groups can provide patients with interactions with peers, which has been shown to significantly increase the feelings of empowerment and the performance of self-care behaviors (Hsiao et al, 2016). However, studies have also noted that many patients did not actively engage in support groups but attended primarily to obtain further relevant information (Simpson, 2015).…”

Trajectories of anxiety and depression in liver transplant candidates during the waiting‐list period

“…However, evidence regarding effective psychosocial interventions in transplant candidates is lacking (Cupples et al, 2006;Engle, 2001). So far, only a few studies, reporting (preliminary) findings regarding psychosocial interventions in transplant candidates and recipients, showed that this may be effective in reducing distress (Dew et al, 2004;Hsiao et al, 2016;Napolitano et al, 2002;Reilly-Spong, Reibel, Pearson, Koppa, & Gross, 2015). In future studies, the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions to address psychological problems in transplant candidates needs to be examined.…”