Objective

: To investigate the relationship between coping styles and levels of life satisfaction of patients undergoing hemodialysis and patients with renal transplantation. Methods: Thirty four patients on hemodialysis, twenty one patients with renal transplantation and fifty who did not suffer from any chronic disease took part in the study. They were administered a Life Satisfaction Scale and a Stress Coping Questionnaire. It was checked whether there were significant differences between the groups in the variables studied. Additionally, the predictive capacity of coping styles on life satisfaction for SV of each of the groups that participated in the research was examined. Results: Patients on the hemodialysis group have a significantly lower SV than the participants in the control group, there being no difference between the clinical groups or between the group of transplanted patients and the control group as regards the SV. In general terms, active EAs predict positively the level of SV; but SV increases for hemodialysis patients if there is also some type of avoidant AD. Conclusions: The coexistence of active and avoidance coping styles, in which a moderate level of denial is accompanied by optimistic attitudes, raises the degree of vital satisfaction of hemodialysis patients.