Effects of Appropriate Nutrition Training in Small Groups on Laboratory Parameters in Hemodialysis Patients from Iran.

Introduction: Adherence to appropriate nutrition and fluid intake is one of the essential parts of chronic renal failure treatment for achieving the desirable results among the patients with hemodialysis. Among various training methods, the "small groups' method", as an advanced method, can be performed by nurses in achieving desirable therapeutic results. The present study was aimed to investigate the effect of appropriate nutrition training in small groups on laboratory parameters in hemodialysis patients.

Material and Methods: In this clinical trial, 64 patients who met the inclusion criteria were randomly selected and divided into an intervention group and a control group. Subsequently, an appropriate nutritional training program, including lectures along with appropriate nutrition pamphlets in three one hour question and answer sessions were performed. Thirty two patients in each group were assigned to intervention groups of five. Then, the laboratory indicators for each patient were measured in each group one month after training. Thereafter, data analysis was performed using descriptive and analytical statistics (statistical tests including independent t-test, paired t-test, repeated measures, and ANOVA) in SPSS V.16 software.

Results: The mean age of the patients was 50.1 ± 13.1 years; 47.5% of them had undergone dialysis due to hypertension and 55.7% had a history of 1-5 years of hemodialysis. There was a significant difference in post-intervention levels of urea, creatinine, sodium, potassium, calcium, and phosphorus between the two groups.

Conclusions: Appropriate nutrition training via small-group method for patients on hemodialysis can impose positive effects on laboratory parameters.