Peer group for immigrants with kidney disease shows positive results
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Key takeaways:
- Patients said peer support was vital for those newly diagnosed with kidney failure.
- Participants valued a safe space to build relationships and share hardships.
A peer support group for immigrants lacking permanent legal status with kidney failure receiving emergency dialysis had high recruitment, retention and delivery rates, suggesting it may be suitable for patient use, according to a study.
“Most undocumented immigrants with kidney failure rely on emergency dialysis and experience significant depression and anxiety and high mortality,” researchers wrote in the study. “Culturally and language-concordant peer support group interventions may be associated with reduced depression and anxiety and may provide emotional support.”
Researchers conducted a single-group peer support group during hospitalization for individuals without permanent legal status who were receiving emergency dialysis to “investigate the feasibility and acceptability of this intervention,” Lilia Cervantes, MD, of the department of medicine at the University of Colorado, and lead researcher, told Healio.
The qualitative, single-group prospective study took place in Denver from December 2017 to July 2018 with 23 participants. Data were analyzed in 2022. The intervention included peer support group meetings while participants were hospitalized.
Researchers led patient interviews using a structured format to measure acceptability or peer support group intervention, and to assess the group’s value, themes and subthemes.
Of the 23 participants, five withdrew and did not attend meetings, leaving 18 patients who attended an average of six of 12 meetings for a retention rate of 78.3%.
Interviews and group meetings revealed three main themes: the desire for camaraderie and emotional support from peers; solutions to improve care and resilience; and the need for better emotional and physical aspects of receiving emergency dialysis.
Participants shared their experiences of emotional and physical distress related to emergency dialysis, mixed experiences with language-concordant care and emotional exhaustion from end-of-life conversations. They highlighted the need for kidney disease education, emotional support from peers and caregivers and faith.
Patients expressed that peer support was vital for those newly diagnosed with kidney failure and provided a safe space to build relationships and share hardships, according to the findings. They also found the hospital setting ideal for peer support and emphasized the importance of solidarity. Additionally, patients discussed solutions to improve care and resilience, Cervantes told Healio.
“Patients engaged in self-advocacy and organized themselves. From my perspective, this was the most exciting development,” Cervantes said.
Future work may expand the study sample size and recruit patients from multiple hospital systems. Overall, the findings suggest the intervention was acceptable and valued by participants, who felt it built camaraderie and a means to improve self-advocacy, Cervantes said.
“Peer support is important given our findings,” Cervantes said. “This type of intervention … is important to consider for socially marginalized patients with kidney health disparities.”
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