To explore self-care abilities and current status of fatigue and loneliness in peritoneal dialysis patients, and to determine the correlation between their self-care and fatigue & loneliness.

Totals of 237 cases with peritoneal dialysis followed up by Nephrology Department in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University were selected and surveyed by General patient information questionnaire, Exercise of Self-Care Agency Scale (ESCA), Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory-20 (MFI-20), and UCLA Loneliness Scale (Chinese version).

Scores of self-care ability in peritoneal dialysis patients were (92.18±15.23) points, in the level above the average. Scores of fatigue in peritoneal dialysis patients were (61.24±11.72) points, and of loneliness (46.28±5.34), both higher than norm (P<0.01). Self-care ability of peritoneal dialysis patients showed a negative correlation with level of fatigue and loneliness (P<0.01). It was revealed in multiple stepwise regression analysis that influencing factors of self-care abilities in peritoneal dialysis patients included comprehensive fatigue, less activity, physical fatigue and loneliness.

When making nursing measures for peritoneal dialysis patients, their fatigue and loneliness should be assessed. Targeting measures should be intervened to eliminate their fatigue and loneliness, so as to improve their self-care ability and quality of life.

Peritoneal dialysis; Self-care; Fatigue; Loneliness