Negotiating treatment and managing expectations in chronic kidney disease: A qualitative study in Argentina

Abstract

Objectives To describe how patients with CKD negotiated assigned responsibilities in the management of their disease, resulting in potential relational nonadherence. Methods Qualitative study performed in two healthcare facilities in Buenos Aires, Argentina, including 50 patients and 14 healthcare providers. We conducted semistructured interviews which were analysed using a frame of reference with concepts of Burden of Treatment and Cognitive Authority theories. Findings Adherence to treatment defined “good patients”. Patients needed to negotiate starting treatment, its modality and dialysis schedule, although most patients felt they did not participate in the decision process and that providers did not acknowledge implications of these decisions on their routine. Some patients skipped dialysis if concerns were not attended. Regularly, patients negotiated frequency of visits, doses, dietary restrictions and redefined relationships with their support networks, sometimes with devasting effects. As a result of overwhelming uncertainty some patients refused enrolling into a transplant program. When the frequency of complications increased, patients considered abandoning dialysis. Conclusion When patients perceived demands were excessive or conflicting, they entered into negotiations. Relationally induced nonadherence may arise when professionals do not or cannot enter into negotiations over patients’ beliefs or knowledge about what is possible for them to do.