The Experience of Kidney Graft Failure: Patients' Perspectives

Abstract

In this article we describe the phenomenon of kidney graft failure from the unique perspective of patients. Fifteen patients took part in semistructured interviews. We analyzed interviews using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The content analysis yielded five main emergent themes: life disruption, suffering, meaning making, resistance/acceptance, and social comparison. These results are discussed within the theoretical framework of psychosocial transition put forward by Parkes. A comprehensive description of the experience of kidney graft failure emerging from the patients' perspectives can provide a better understanding of the psychosocial aspects— not only the body aspects—of the phenomenon. It can help health care professionals better address patients' suffering, which is experienced by a person as a whole, and to offer support that promotes adaptation to kidney graft failure.