Kidney failure, status passage, and the transitional nature of living with the disease: A qualitative study in Argentina

Abstract

The span of kidney failure (KF) has been extended by advances in treatment. To elucidate the lived experiences of people with KF, we draw on Glaser and Strauss’s theory of status passage. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 50 patients with KF and 14 health professionals, from two healthcare facilities in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The theory informed on the temporal dimensions of people’s passages and dimensions related to what actors know of this passage. We described the status passage as a sequence of transitions (starting dialysis, receiving a transplant, returning to dialysis) that have devastating effects on patient’s roles, and are accompanied with fear and experience of wasting time. Temporal aspects were crucial and planning was useless; indeed, timing of statuses was uncertain. With a transplant, certain roles and capacities could be regained. Some patients were not aware of the chronic nature of the disease and the ultimate reversibility of the transplant. Control over the passage was minimal because of the unpredictable prognosis of the disease but patients employed strategies to regain it. Control was even more limited for people who migrated to receive a treatment; whose lives were completely altered. Status passage theory signaled the overwhelming impact of the passage on all aspects of people’s lives, the uncertainty of the transitions, lack of control and awareness of essential aspects, and unexpected aspects of desirability, adding to our understanding of how people experience this disease and its treatments.