Abstract: TH-PO856
"Life Is Either You're Going into a Storm, Going through a Storm, or Coming out of One": Narrative Interviews with Younger Adults on Dialysis in Baltimore City
Session Information
- Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in Kidney Health and Care
October 24, 2024 | Location: Exhibit Hall, Convention Center
Abstract Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Category: Diversity and Equity in Kidney Health
- 900 Diversity and Equity in Kidney Health
Authors
- Tesfai, Yordanos, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
- Petkiewicz, Deirdre, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
- Brown, Kennedy Aloni, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
- Crews, Deidra C., Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
- Taylor, Kathryn, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Background
Racial disparities in survival with kidney failure are most pronounced among younger adults on dialysis, particularly those living in disinvested urban communities. We lack understanding of how younger Black adults on dialysis living in these communities frame their own narratives, navigate their environment to preserve functioning, or the role of dialysis in that work. Narratives can inform interventions to advance health equity in dialysis.
Methods
We are conducting narrative (unstructured) interviews with younger adults on dialysis in Baltimore City to explore their lived experience on and off dialysis. We are recruiting a purposive sample of adults age 18 to 45 years who are receiving dialysis from a facility in Baltimore City, excluding adults who initiated dialysis before age 18. We aim to enroll 15 participants and complete data analysis by October 2024. We will conduct member checking via focus groups when enrollment is complete.
We present preliminary analysis of interviews with the 8 participants we have enrolled to date. Interviews were audiorecorded and transcribed, and we used F4Analyze to code qualitative data. Three study members independently conducted reflexive thematic analysis of study interviews and discussed preliminary codes and themes.
Results
All participants self-identified their race as Black or African American and their ethnicity as non-Hispanic; 6 (75%) identified as male. Preliminary codes and supporting quotes (Table 1) illuminate how participants creatively leveraged psychological and available social resources to navigate life as a person on dialysis.
Conclusion
Multiple targets exist for interventions to eliminate racial survival inequities among younger adults on dialysis in disinvested urban communities.
Funding
- Other NIH Support