A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Family Resiliency in Hemodialysis Patients

Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive comparative survey was to examine differences in family resiliency between hemo-dialysis patients and caregivers across three ethnically diverse samples that included Anglo-Americans, Mexican Americans, and South Koreans. The study was based on the Family Resiliency Model developed by McCubbin, Thompson, and McCubbin. The patients were in end-stage renal disease and were receiving hemodialysis treatments at either a freestanding hemodialysis unit or a 30-bed dialysis hospital unit. South Korean patients on hemodialysis and their caregivers perceived the stressors imposed by their illness to be significantly greater than either of the other ethnic groups, and they also scored lower on the resiliency measure than the other two groups. Findings of the study support the need to understand the dynamics of family resiliency from a cultural perspective.