J Korean Acad Nurs.  2017 Feb;47(1):110-120. 10.4040/jkan.2017.47.1.110.

The Lived Experience of Patients with Heart Transplantation: A Phenomenological Study

Affiliations
  • 1Nursing Department, Yeoju Institute of Technology, Yeoju, Korea. ihui@yit.ac.kr
  • 2College of Nursing, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to describe the lived experience of patients with heart transplantation in Korea.
METHODS
Individual indepth interviews and a focus group interview were used to collect the data from nine patients who had heart transplantations in 2015. All interviews were audio-taped and verbatim transcripts were made for the analysis. Data were analyzed using Colaizzi's phenomenological method.
RESULTS
Among the nine participants, eight were men. Mean age was 57.30 years. Six theme clusters emerged from the analysis. "˜Joy of rebirth obtained by good luck' describes the pleasure and expectation of new life after narrow survival. "˜Suffering from adverse drug effects' illustrates various psychosocial difficulties, such as low self-esteem, helplessness, alienation, and burnout, arising from the side effects of medications. "˜Body and mind of being bewildered' illustrates disintegrated health and haunting fear of death. "˜Alienation disconnected with society' describes isolated feeling of existence due to misunderstandings from society. "˜Suffering overcome with gratitude and responsibility' includes overcoming experience through various social supports and suitable jobs. Finally, "˜acceptance of suffering accompanied with new heart' illustrate changed perspective of life itself.
CONCLUSION
The findings in this study provide deep understanding and insights of the lived experience of heart related illness for these patients and should help in the development of tailored-interventions for patients with heart transplantation.

Keyword

Heart transplantation; Organ transplantation; Life change event; Qualitative research

MeSH Terms

Adaptation, Psychological
Aged
Attitude to Death
Attitude to Health
Female
Graft Rejection/prevention & control
Heart Failure/*psychology/therapy
*Heart Transplantation
Humans
Immunosuppressive Agents/adverse effects/therapeutic use
Male
Middle Aged
Qualitative Research
Quality of Life
Self Concept
Social Support
Surveys and Questionnaires

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