Discharge Planning Quality Linked to Better Quality of Life in Dialysis Patients

Adults on long-term haemodialysis face the daily burden of managing a demanding treatment regimen far beyond the walls of the hospital, and a new cross-sectional study from Kendari, Indonesia, suggests that how patients perceive the quality of their discharge planning may be woven into that challenge. The research, published in BMC Nursing, surveyed 370 adults receiving maintenance haemodialysis and used partial least squares structural equation modelling to map the relationships between discharge planning quality, a set of patient capability constructs, and kidney disease-specific quality of life.

The model accounted for 51% of the variance in kidney disease-specific quality of life, a substantial share for a behavioural model of this kind. Perceived discharge planning quality was positively associated with transition readiness (β = 0.52, P < 0.001) and with self-care self-efficacy (β = 0.34, P = 0.002). Self-management behaviour emerged as the factor most strongly associated with quality of life (β = 0.57, P < 0.001), indicating that within this model, what patients actually do to manage their condition day to day tracks most closely with how they rate their quality of life.

The analysis also tested indirect pathways. Family support additionally moderated the association between self-care self-efficacy and self-management behaviour (β = 0.18, P = 0.024), pointing to a role for the household environment in how confidence translates into action.

The authors conclude that perceived discharge planning quality was associated with kidney disease-specific quality of life in a model incorporating transition readiness, self-care self-efficacy and self-management behaviour, and they frame patient capability-related factors and family engagement as relevant components of transitional nursing care for adults on maintenance haemodialysis. The findings are measured associations from validated questionnaires in a single cross-sectional dataset, so they cannot establish causality or rule out reverse pathways; the study measured dialysis health literacy, transition readiness, self-care self-efficacy, self-management behaviour, family support and kidney disease-specific quality of life, and analysed them with partial least squares structural equation modelling. Even so, the results add to the evidence that transitional care design, and the family context surrounding it, may matter for people whose self-management continues long after they leave the dialysis unit.

Subject of Research: Associations between perceived discharge planning quality, patient capability factors and quality of life in maintenance haemodialysis patients

Article Title: Associations between perceived discharge planning quality, patient capability, self-management, and quality of life in maintenance haemodialysis: a cross-sectional PLS-SEM study

Article References: Said, A., Islaeli, I., Nofitasari, A., Risky, S., & Azwar, M. (2026). Associations between perceived discharge planning quality, patient capability, self-management, and quality of life in maintenance haemodialysis: a cross-sectional PLS-SEM study. BMC Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-026-05498-8

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12912-026-05498-8

Keywords: haemodialysis, discharge planning, self-management, quality of life, transition readiness, self-efficacy, family support, PLS-SEM, nursing, kidney disease, cross-sectional study, transitional care