The lived experience of adolescents who transfer from a pediatric to an adult hemodialysis centre.

The transition experience of adolescent patients who transfer from pediatric to adult hemodialysis centres has not received attention in the pediatric nephrology literature. In order for health care professionals from both pediatric and adult hemodialysis centres to positively influence the quality of life during this transition, an understanding of the meanings adolescents attach to their transition experience must be explored. Phenomenology as a research paradigm was employed for this study. Phenomenology provides a method from which to study human experience as it is lived, including the meanings that individuals attach to the experience. This qualitative research study was designed to describe the meanings adolescents attached to their transition experience. Subsequent objectives of the study were: to identify implications for professional practice in both pediatric and adult hemodialysis centres; to positively influence the quality of life for adolescent hemodialysis patients during their transition; and to identify and define potential areas for further research related to the holistic needs of adolescent hemodialysis patients. A sample of three English-speaking adults between the ages of 18 and 22 years who were receiving hemodialysis treatments in an adult centre following transfer from a pediatric centre within one year were interviewed. The tape-recorded interviews were transcribed into verbatim text. In addition, field notes provided investigators with the supplemental information about the meaning and the context of the interview that the audiotape may have missed. The data were analyzed using a step-by-step procedure adapted from Colaizzi (1978). In the final step, the investigators integrated and synthesized the analysis into a descriptive meaning of the transition experience of adolescents who transferred from a pediatric to an adult hemodialysis centre. The findings of the study revealed a major theme of ownership that the adolescents described as being achieved in the adult hemodialysis centre through their increased knowledge of dialysis technology, through being held accountable for their dialysis care and through increased feelings of independence.