This paper describes and discusses the results of an exploratory and smallscale study of 20 renal patients treated by dialysis at home. The conceptual framework explored tasks and coping alongside the uncertainty, powerlessness, and scarcity experienced by people undergoing home dialysis. The range of coping strategies, styles of coping, and illness role which were adopted by the respondents, and the implications of these are examined in relation to theories of coping, defending, and adaptation.
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