Abstract:
The aim of this qualitative study was to describe the lived experience of chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) sufferers and to explore how this chronic disease affected their health-related quality of life. Participants included persons with a history of venous insufficiency and leg ulcers or active venous insufficiency patients. The research setting was a hospital-based outpatient wound care clinic in a small naval community approximately 1 hour from Seattle, Washington. A convenience sample of 10 patients participated in the study; 6 were women and their mean age was 66 years. Nine were white and 1 was African American, and all were currently retired, disabled, or unemployed. A 9-item interview guide was developed consisting of open-ended questions intended to elicit the lived experiences of persons with CVI. Respondents participated in 1 focus group or individual interviews. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to guide data collection and analysis. Three patients participated in individual interviews and 7 patients participated in a 1-hour focus group. Data obtained from personal interviews were handwritten and data from focus group were audio-recorded. Audio-recorded data from focus group participation were transcribed, analyzed, and compared with the handwritten interviews using interpretive phenomenological analysis.
Wellborn, Moceri, , , , , , , (). The lived experiences of persons with chronic venous insufficiency and lower extremity ulcers. Journal of wound, ostomy, and continence nursing : official publication of The Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurses Society, ;41(2):122-6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24595175