Department of Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM, 43400, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
BMC Nephrol. 2021 Feb 2;22(1):48. doi: 10.1186/s12882-021-02255-8.
The festival of Ramadan is a month of spiritual reflection for Muslims worldwide. During Ramadan, Muslims are required to refrain from eating and drinking during daylight hours. Although exempted from fasting, many patients undergoing maintenance haemodialysis (HD) opt to participate in this religious practice. Many studies have explored the effects of Ramadan on health outcomes, however, the exploration from patients' own point of view pertaining to this religious practice is lacking. Thus, we aimed to explore the experiences and perceptions of Muslim HD patients observing Ramadan fasting from three HD centres in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
An exploratory phenomenology qualitative study was conducted whereby subjects were purposively selected based on previous experience in observing Ramadan fasting. Face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted, and study data were analyzed thematically and iteratively coded using a constant comparison method.
Four major themes emerged from the data, namely: (i) "fasting experiences", (ii) "perceived side effects of fasting", (iii) "health-seeking behavior" and, (iv) "education and awareness needs". Patients expressed the significance of Ramadan fasting as well as the perceived impact of fasting on their health. Additionally, there is lack of health-seeking behaviour observed among patients thus, raising needs for awareness and education related to Ramadan fasting.
Findings of this study shed light on patients' experiences and perceptions regarding Ramadan fasting which warrants the needs for an effective communication between patients and health care practitioners through a structured-Ramadan specific education program.
斋月是全世界穆斯林进行精神反思的一个月。在斋月期间，穆斯林被要求在白天禁食禁水。尽管不必禁食，但许多接受维持性血液透析（HD）的患者选择参加这种宗教实践。许多研究探讨了斋月对健康结果的影响，但缺乏对这一宗教实践的患者自身观点的探讨。因此，我们旨在从马来西亚雪兰莪州巴生谷的三个 HD 中心探索穆斯林 HD 患者观察斋月斋戒的经验和看法。
进行了一项探索性现象学定性研究，根据之前观察斋月斋戒的经验，有目的地选择了受试者。进行了面对面的深入访谈，使用恒定比较法对研究数据进行了主题分析和迭代编码。
从数据中出现了四个主要主题，即：（i）“禁食经验”，（ii）“禁食的感知副作用”，（iii）“寻求健康行为”和，（iv）“教育和意识需求”。患者表达了斋月斋戒的意义以及他们认为斋戒对健康的影响。此外，患者中观察到缺乏寻求健康行为，因此需要提高与斋月斋戒相关的意识和教育。
本研究的结果阐明了患者对斋月斋戒的经验和看法，这需要患者和医疗保健从业者之间通过结构化的斋月特定教育计划进行有效的沟通。
