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Hwang and Yi: The Lived Experience of Patients with Heart Transplantation: A Phenomenological Study
Original Article

Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing 2017; 47(1): 110-120.

Published online: 28 February 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4040/jkan.2017.47.1.110

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

Younghui Hwang1, Myungsun Yi2

1Nursing Department, Yeoju Institute of Technology, Yeoju, Korea.

2College of Nursing, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.

Address reprint requests to: Hwang, Younghui. Nursing Department, Yeoju Institute of Technology, 338 Sejong-ro, Yeoju 12652, Korea. Tel: +82-31-880-5378, Fax: +82-31-880-5699, ihui@yit.ac.kr

Received 18 August 2016       Revised 13 December 2016       Accepted 15 December 2016

© 2017 Korean Society of Nursing Science

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution NoDerivs License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/) If the original work is properly cited and retained without any modification or reproduction, it can be used and re-distributed in any format and medium.

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.

Keywords: Heart transplantation, Organ transplantation, Life change event, Qualitative research

Figures and Tables

Table 1

The Characteristics of the Participants

jkan-47-110-i001
No. Gender Age (yr) Religion Education Marital status Economic status Occupation Diagnosis Duration of transplantation (yr)
1 Male 57 Protestantism University Single Middle Freelancer DCMP 19
2 Female 66 Buddhism High school Married High Housewife DCMP 20
3 Male 51 None University Married High Bank clerk DCMP 17
4 Male 56 Buddhism High school Married Middle Self-employed DCMP 18
5 Male 58 Buddhism Elementary school Married High Boiler repairman DCMP 11
6 Male 53 None University Married High Pharmacist DCMP 18
7 Male 53 Protestantism High school Divorced Low None DCMP 4
8 Male 66 None High school Married Middle Farmer Heart failure 11
9 Male 56 None University Married Middle Factory worker Arrhythmia 3

DCMP=Dilated cardiomyopathy.

Table 2

Theme Clusters and Themes on the Illness Experience of Patients with Heart Transplantation

jkan-47-110-i002
Theme cluster Theme
Joy of rebirth obtained by good luck Unexpected opportunity for a narrow escape from death
Life narrowly survived
Expectation for newly gained life
Suffering from adverse drug effects Self-esteem lowered by changes of appearance and somatotype
Feeling helplessness due to difficulty in emotion control
Alineation owing to restrictions on social activities
Burnout caused by several adverse drug effects in a row
Body and mind of being bewildered Disharmony between new heart and body
Health that cannot be perfect
Death haunting all the time
Alienation disconnected with society Existence being crowded out of social circle
Patient being discriminated against in health care system
Suffering solely rested upon me
Suffering overcome with gratitude and responsibility Family as a life supporter
Gratitude to the donor and society
Job changed to fit health
‘I’as the sole owner of my life
Acceptance of suffering accompanied with new heart Thinking positively
Not being bounded by money and health
Admitting suffering as a life-long friend
Self-directed management of health

Notes

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST The authors declared no conflict of interest.

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