Symptom burden in chronic kidney disease (CKD) is poorly understood. To date, the majority of research focuses on single symptoms and there is a lack of suitable multidimensional symptom measures. The purpose of this study was to modify, translate, cross-culturally adapt and psychometrically analyse the Dialysis Symptom Index (DSI). The study methods involved four phases: modification, translation, pilot-testing with a bilingual non-CKD sample and then psychometric testing with the target population. Content validity was assessed using an expert panel. Inter-rater agreement, test-retest reliability and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient were calculated to demonstrate reliability of the modified DSI. Discriminative and convergent validity were assessed to demonstrate construct validity. Content validity index during translation was 0.98. In the pilot study with 25 bilingual students a moderate to perfect agreement (Kappa statistic = 0.60-1.00) was found between English and Arabic versions of the modified DSI. The main study recruited 433 patients CKD with stages 4 and 5. The modified DSI was able to discriminate between non-dialysis and dialysis groups (p < 0.001) and demonstrated convergent validity with domains of the Kidney Disease Quality of Life short form. Excellent test-retest and internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.91) reliability were also demonstrated. The Arabic version of the modified DSI demonstrated good psychometric properties, measures the multidimensional nature of symptoms and can be used to assess symptom burden at different stages of CKD. The modified instrument, renamed the CKD Symptom Burden Index (CKD-SBI), should encourage greater clinical and research attention to symptom burden in CKD.

(1) Background: Perceived disease-related self-efficacy is considered a fundamental component of the successful self-management of chronic diseases. Prior studies have found that self-efficacy is associated with improvements in health behaviors and health status among people with chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, few studies have evaluated self-efficacy among patients undergoing dialysis. (2) Methods: This study was performed to evaluate CKD patients’ self-efficacy and to determine the factors that significantly affect self-efficacy among dialysis patients. This was a cross-sectional study using a convenience sample of 190 patients undergoing dialysis. The patients’ self-efficacy was measured using the CKD Self-Efficacy Scale. Inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. (3) Results: The mean age of the participants was 49.24 ± 13.15 years. Almost half of them were males (48.4%), and 75.3% were married. The majority of the patients (83%) were undergoing hemodialysis. The total score for self-efficacy was 192.57 ± 39.23. Only occupational status and the type of dialysis were significantly and positively correlated with patients’ perceived self-efficacy scores. (4) Conclusions: This study provides primary evidence of the perceived self-efficacy among CKD patients who are on dialysis. The results of this cross-sectional study showed that greater self-efficacy was associated with employment and peritoneal dialysis. Strategies to enhance self-efficacy among dialysis patients, especially those on hemodialysis, are needed.