Wales

Wales (Cymru)

Engaging and supporting women with chronic kidney disease with pre-conception decision making (including their experiences during COVID-19): A mixed-methods study protocol


It's only the second time in Welsh history that the national team has made it to the FIFA World Cup; and their first appearance in the NephroWorldCup. Not to be confused with England, the Welsh are a proud people with a formidable NephroWorldCup team in its inaugural appearance (Video 1).

Video 1: Yma o hyd

The Welsh enter the NephroWorldCup with a theoretical framework for a much needed study focusing on women's health. In Wales (and perhaps the UK in general) there are more females living with kidney disease than males. Yet the resources, funding, and general focus on women's health, in particular pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes in those with CKD, is lackluster (we're putting it mildly so as to not offend your sensibilities). Globally nearly 200 million women are afflicted with CKD and have to shoulder the lions share of the burden of living with and managing it as well as the complexities of being pregnant with CKD.

Mixed Methods Study

Presentation 1: Mixed-Methods study design | Courtesy of the Abraham S. Fischler School of Education at Nova Southeastern University

To do this these Welsh researchers will adopt a mixed-methods convergent study design (Presentation 1). Such a design will allow them to elucidate:

  1. the needs and preferences of pregnant women with CKD

  2. creating a theoretical decision model that females use when pregnant with CKD

  3. women's information needs, priorities, and decision-making preferences

  4. women's lived experiences

  5. opportunities within the current treatment pathway to help pregnant women with CKD

The importance of such research cannot be understated. Female patients are often left exclusively shouldering the burden of chronic kidney disease and/or CKD with pregnancy. In either scenario, they are devoid of needed medical information to make the best decisions for themselves and their babies. Even though the Wales NephroWorldCup team isn't a completed study, the fact that it is being conducted should remind us that female health is woefully inadequate and that the time had come long ago to right this wrong.