Quality of Life among dialysis patients can have an impact on health outcomes. Patients undergoing hemodialysis face obstacles and intrusions into daily life that can compromise their quality of life. The Kidney Disease Quality of Life (KDQOL) is a popular health-related quality of life survey used with dialysis patients and has undergone several revisions leading to the KDQOL-36. The KDQOL-36 is both a general and disease-specific health quality of life survey and has been identified by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as the preferred survey for use by dialysis providers. However, research is limited on the KDQOL-36 and its utility in clinical practice. This dissertation, reported in three manuscripts, provides a review of the KDQOL-36 and attempts to answer if there are patient attributes that contribute to KDQOL-36 scores and if KDQOL-36 scores provide indication of clinical outcomes.