Abstract
People often seek feedback to compare aspects of their lives to others. For those undergoing haemodialysis, this may entail discussing dietary advice experiences with others to gain a sense of how well they are doing with their self-management skills. This informal peer-support may present opportunities and challenges for those undergoing haemodialysis. A total of 12 adults undergoing maintenance haemodialysis took part in semi-structured interviews which were transcribed verbatim and underwent thematic analysis. The self-evaluation model of social comparison informed data analysis and interpretation. Two major themes are reported. The major themes were ‘Joining the kidney family’, which represented a sense of solidarity among patients and ‘Social comparison to peers.’ Two sub-themes made up the theme ‘Social comparison to peers’, these were ‘Got it sorted’ and ‘On rocky ground’ and represented upwards comparisons from a self-evaluation perspective and down wards comparisons for self-enhancement. People form social relationships within a haemodialysis unit which are used to obtain evaluations on dietary self-management skills by social comparison. Positive self-evaluations involved downward and upward comparisons around dietary recommendations. Informal peer-support around dietary advice for haemodialysis is variable in terms of the accuracy and helpfulness of the information provided.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | S28-S35 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Journal of Kidney Care |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | Sup6 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Nov 2023 |
Bibliographical note
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Keywords
- diet
- identity
- social comparison
- renal
- peer