Introduction:

chronic kidney disease and hemodialysis generate changes in physical and mental state of people, due to somatic alterations influenced by limitations, invasive procedures, family abandonment, dependency status and deterioration in the quality of life of patients.

Objective:

to describe the emotional state of the patients included in the chronic hemodialysis Program.

Methods:

a descriptive, cross-sectional, qualitative and quantitative research was carried out in the Hemodialysis service at "Arnaldo Milián Castro" Clinical and Surgical University Hospital, Santa Clara, Villa Clara, from March to May 2019. The sample consisted of 116 hemodialysis patients after applying intentional and non-probability sampling. The Zung test and the EE-D questionnaire (evaluation of emotional distress for kidney patients on dialysis) were used as psychological instruments, in addition to the triangulation of data according to methods and techniques.

Results:

male gender, arteriovenous fistula, time on hemodialysis from 1 to 5 years and presence of hypertensive vascular nephropathy predominated. Mild and moderate depression prevailed among mood states; the mean of individual perception obtained an evaluation of 3 points and a same range of depression and anxiety. The mean for age, hemoglobin and albumin had values ​​of 55.66 years, 11.9 g / dl and 37 g / dl, respectively. The detected alterations were established as a reaction to crisis and treatment, and coping with the disease.