Date of Award

1992

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Phillip J. Brantley

Abstract

The goals of this project were to investigate factors that predicted nonadherence to fluid restrictions for patients on hemodialysis, and to evaluate a relatively long-term behavioral intervention to improve adherence to recommended fluid requirements. One hundred forty-one subjects were recruited from outpatient dialysis clinics in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In the prediction study, several medical and demographic variables as well as psychological variables of health locus of control, depressed mood, and social support were placed into a regression equation to determine the variance of fluid noncompliance predicted. It was found that variables of being male, educated, younger, and having an external health locus control based upon chance beliefs were significantly predictive of noncompliance. In a separate six-month prospective study, no statistically significant improvements were observed when comparing a group rewarded contingently for fluid compliance to a group receiving noncontingent reward. Low rates of reinforcement during the treatment and participant characteristics are discussed as reasons for the lack of behavior change towards treatment adherence.

Pages

142

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_disstheses.5379

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