Kidney disease has many implications for those who live with it. Self-care is an integral part of daily life and often means that patients and/or their carers take responsibility for day-to-day management of complex clinical interventions and treatment regimens, with support from the health care professionals involved in their care. People living with kidney disease can benefit enormously if they receive appropriate support for self-care; to understand the best ways to support them we need detailed insights into the challenges and rewards of living with kidney disease.

This special issue is intended to present and discuss current evidence and new innovations which have the potential to inform our insights into living with kidney disease. This new knowledge can shape the services and support offered to patients and families. We invite authors to submit high quality papers that focus on the experience of and/or insights into living with kidney disease from the perspective of patients of all ages, their carers, and families. We welcome research, clinical practice, reviews, and theoretical papers. Papers could, for example, relate to health care settings, home settings, schools or workplaces, and/or transition from one age group to another, from one treatment modality or stage of disease to another or from one health care context to another (e.g., chronic to palliative care and child healthcare to adult healthcare).

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Quality of life assessments
• Qualitative studies of patient, carer, and/or family member perspectives of living with kidney disease
• Mixed methods studies, feasibility, proof of concept, pilot studies, or randomised controlled trials
• Studies using new methodological paradigms that challenge current thinking in clinical research
• Development and evaluation of complex interventions to promote optimum healthcare experiences or clinical outcomes
• Patient/carer/family member involvement in designing and conducting research on insights into living with kidney disease
• The insights of healthcare professionals who support patients living with kidney disease
• The effect of exercise, sleep quality/duration, and/or renal diets on people living with kidney disease
• Studies on the burden of comorbidities and patient-centered outcomes
• Patient care in natural disasters such as earthquake or hurricane
• Application of advanced therapies (e.g., stem cells therapy, immune modulation, reversing fibrotic disease, reversing advanced glycation end products, and metabolic reprogramming)