"Time for dialysis as time to live": Experiences of time in everyday life of the Swedish next of kin of hemodialysis patients

The aim of this study was to explore the content of time in everyday life as experienced by the next of kin of patients on hemodialysis in Sweden. Chronic renal disease often requires hemodialysis, which is a time-consuming treatment that makes it necessary to carefully plan everyday life and involves the next of kin to a large degree. This study used a descriptive design with a content analysis approach. The analysis of the data from the twenty interviews revealed the experiences of time in the everyday lives of the next of kin of a patient on hemodialysis. The content of time in everyday life can be described as follows: fragmented time, vacuous time, and uninterrupted time. The findings show how everyday life time for the next of kin is minimized and that the common life space is contracted. The next of kin must be provided with supervision in order to provide them with more of their own time in everyday life, which can benefit their health.