Objective:

To evaluate patient-perceived privacy in a hemodialysis unit, identifying possible areas for improvement.

Material and Method:

Descriptive study, with three cut-off points in 2018, 2019 and 2021. The Mozota-Duarte questionnaire was used (11 items covering the dimensions of auditory and visual intimacy and global privacy, Likert-type scale 1-5). Cronbach's Alpha was used for reliability analysis. A descriptive analysis was carried out, using non-parametric tests to analyse the variability of intimacy over the three years, as well as the relationship with the variables sex and age.

Results:

125 questionnaires were collected (response rate 80.13%). The median age was 68 years (P25:46.5-P75:80) and 65 (52%) were male. Cronbach's alpha of the questionnaire was 0.843. The median score for global privacy was 4.66 (P25:4-P75:5), auditory privacy 4.75 (P25:4.25-P75:5) and visual privacy 4.75 (P25:4.25-P75:5). No statistically significant differences in scores were found across the 3 years studied.

The lowest rated attributes (score <3) were “having listened to other patients' conversations” (19.2%) and “having seen other patients explore” (20.8%).

Women scored worse on the item “being able to be seen by others” (p=0.046), with no statistical significance found for any other attribute. An inverse relationship between age and the 4 items related to auditory intimacy was found (p≤0.05).

Conclusions:

The privacy perceived by hemodialysis patients has been high, remaining stable over time, both in the auditory, visual and global dimensions.