Control and Coping for Individuals with End Stage Renal Disease on Hemodialysis: A Position Paper‪.‬

Control and coping with end stage renal disease End stage renal disease (ESRD) is a chronic illness whereby kidney function is insufficient to sustain life. ESRD currently affects 10,000 Canadians and is predicted to increase by 15% per year (Cvengros, Christensen, & Lawton, 2005). The most common causes of ESRD are diabetes and hypertension. The treatment for individuals with ESRD is hemodialysis, kidney transplantation or conservative management. Due to a shortage of donor organs, however, hemodialysis remains the prescribed life-sustaining treatment for the large majority of patients (Christensen & Ehlers, 2002).