Structural and Psychosocial Challenges Among Underserved Patients Receiving Hemodialysis During and Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study

RATIONALE & OBJECTIVE: Racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States are disproportionately affected by chronic kidney disease and progressive kidney failure and face significantly more socioeconomic and psychosocial challenges. However, how such patients’ social environment and stigmatization shape their illness experiences and abilities to cope before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has not been well documented, even as social scientific research predicts these groups’ exponential vulnerability. STUDY DESIGN: Qualitative study using semistructured interviews to elicit individual patient narratives about their personal illness experiences before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, any challenges they faced, and their sources of support. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS: Using purposive sampling, we recruited 20 adult patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis from centers affiliated with a safety-net hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. ANALYTICAL APPROACH: Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic content analysis to identify patients’ challenges and supports before and during the pandemic. RESULTS: Of the 20 patients in the study, 9 were women, and 18 self-identified as Black or African American. Three main themes emerged, whereby most patients described: (1) stigma and stigmatization as a central element of their life experience; (2) the pandemic as a difficult experience but not a complete rupture from their prepandemic life; and (3) social networks, particularly family, friends, and religious communities, as sources of support crucial to coping with their debilitating illness. LIMITATIONS: Whether the findings apply to other settings is unknown, as participants were recruited from centers in a single safety-net urban hospital setting. CONCLUSIONS: Psychosocial and environmental factors, including institutional racism and stigmatization, play significant roles in amplifying the burdens shouldered by racial and ethnic minority individuals with kidney disease who now also face the COVID-19 pandemic that has since turned endemic. The results of this study can inform the development of policy interventions aimed at alleviating tensions and structural conditions that impinge on kidney disease patients’ wellbeing and health outcomes. PLAIN-LANGUAGE SUMMARY: Members of racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States experience the highest rates of progressive kidney failure and face significantly more socioeconomic and psychosocial challenges. We interviewed 20 patients who receive maintenance hemodialysis treatment from centers affiliated with a safety-net hospital. Patients described stigmatization as a central element of their life experience and the pandemic as a difficult challenge (but not a complete rupture) that added to their struggles with illness-related, race-related, and class-related stigmas. Social networks, particularly family, friends, and religious communities, are key sources of support crucial to coping with illness. Findings from this study can inform health care providers and community workers and guide the development of policy interventions to provide better support for these patients.