Comparing the effect of "individual education" and "peer education" on the quality of life of hemodialysis patients

Hemodialysis affects the health status and individual roles of patients and affects their quality of life. Therefore, it is important to investigate different educational methods to improve the quality of life of hemodialysis patients. This research was conducted with the aim of comparing the effect of individual and peer education on the quality of life of hemodialysis patients.

In this semi-experimental research, 32 hemodialysis patients from “Shahid Rahimi” and “Shohadaye Ashayer” educational centers of Khorramabad city were selected as available and then randomly divided into two individual and peer groups. After training the peers, 4 peer training sessions were conducted for the peer training group over the course of a month. Individual training was conducted by the researcher for 15 to 20 minutes in 4 sessions during one month. The data were collected before the intervention, immediately after the intervention and one month after the intervention using the questionnaire of demographic characteristics and quality of life index of France and Powers. Data analysis was done using chi-square test, Fisher's exact test and independent t test in Spss software version 23.

There was a significant difference between the average quality of life scores of the 2 groups of patients over time (P<0.001). Also, there was a significant difference between the average of all aspects of the quality of life of the patients in the group of individual education and peer education over time (P<0.001). These changes from the time before the intervention to immediately after the intervention were not significant (P=0.45). But one month after the intervention, there was a significant increase in the average quality of life score of peer education patients compared to individual education patients (P=0.001).

There was a significant difference between the average of all aspects of the quality of life of individual education and peer education patients over time. Therefore, using peer education as a cost-effective and accessible method can be effective in teaching hemodialysis patients.