Compartmentalising time and space: a phenomenological interpretation of the temporal experience of commencing haemodialysis

Aims and objectives To interpret the spatio‐temporal experience of people with end‐stage kidney disease and their families in the first months of haemodialysis. Background While dialysis is the mainstay of end‐stage kidney disease management, the actual initiation of treatment is often unexpected by people and families. Poor biopsychosocial preparation means haemodialysis commencement is experienced as a crisis. While previous phenomenological studies suggest that over time, a habitual incorporation of dialysis into one's self‐concept is possible, the spatio‐temporal experience of people new to haemodialysis is not well understood. Design A phenomenological study. Methods Following purposive sampling, 18 participants were recruited either during an inpatient admission or while attending a public hospital‐based haemodialysis unit in Sydney, Australia. Eleven people who had commenced haemodialysis within the previous three months and five close family members were separately engaged in semistructured interviews. Hermeneutic interpretation within a Heideggerian framework occurred through a backward‐and‐forward analysis between the early haemodialysis experience and its relationship to Being. Results Themes that related to a temporal and spatial understanding of Being‐in‐the‐world as a new haemodialysis patient or carer included the following: ‘compartmentalising life into dialysis and non‐dialysis days’ (lost time, clock time and lived time); ‘compartmentalising before, now and future’ (normalising the ‘before’, dealing with the ‘now’ and the ‘foreverness’ of dialysis); and finally, ‘compartmentalising space’. Conclusions In the months after dialysis commencement, patients and family carers compartmentalise time and space with a loss of continuity of meaningful, lived time that had framed people's past sense of normal. Relevance to clinical practice Resource enhancement activities should focus on social connectivity and provision of personnel and/or infrastructure to reduce boredom, to facilitate engagement with meaningful tasks and, where appropriate, to support the continuation of work activities during the dialysis period.