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Learning Objective 1: The learner could understand how patients with early stage CKD become aware of their disease from their points of view.
Learning Objective 2: The learners could understand the essence of health teaching in accordance with patients’ awareness experience.
Methods: A purposive sampling was used to recruit patients diagnosed with early-stage CKD from the diabetes and nephrology departments of three hospital in Taiwan. Using Colaizzi’s phenomenological method, 15 patients provided in-depth, audiotaped interviews that were then transcribed and analyzed.
Results: The results from analysis of the transcripts revealed three categories and seven themes. The first category, Self-interpreting the disease, included three themes: easy to neglect the occurrence of asymptomatic CKD, treating a weak or failing kidney as not kidney disease, and searching evidences for confirmation. The second category, Need for disease-specific information, included two themes: need for treatment and self-care information, and need for disease progression information. The third category, Adapting to the disease, included two themes: try alternative treatments and managing comorbidities.
Conclusion: The findings provide understanding of early-stage CKD patients who need guidance and information from health professionals to increase their own awareness of their disease and to facilitate their self-management behavior.