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The cardiac patients' perceptions of their responsibilities in adherence to care: a qualitative interview study
Mari Kangasniemi1, Marina Hirjaba2, Katja Kohonen3
1Department of Nursing Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
Insights
Cardiac patients view autonomy as key to their responsibility in adhering to care. Healthcare providers must support patient duties for better adherence and outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Patient Adherence
- Healthcare Responsibility
Background:
- Rising prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) necessitates understanding patient adherence.
- Patient perspectives on responsibility for CVD care are under-researched.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore cardiac patients' perceptions of their responsibilities in adhering to medical care.
- To identify factors influencing patient responsibility in cardiovascular disease management.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative hermeneutic inquiry utilizing semistructured interviews.
- Face-to-face interviews conducted with 21 cardiac patients (aged 58-86) in Finland.
- Data analyzed using hermeneutic and inductive content analysis.
Main Results:
- Patients perceive autonomy as fundamental to their responsibility in care adherence.
- Patient responsibilities include independent decision-making, collaboration with professionals, and lifestyle adoption.
- Factors influencing responsibility include personal resources, motivation, patient-professional relationships, and healthcare system support.
Conclusions:
- Autonomy is central to cardiac patients' adherence responsibilities, yet literature is sparse.
- Healthcare providers need enhanced skills to support patient duties in clinical practice.
- Further research is recommended to explore patient responsibilities in CVD adherence.
Aims And Objectives:
To describe cardiac patients' perceptions of their responsibilities in adherence to care.
Background:
The responsibilities of cardiac patients' adherence to care is a topical issue because of the increasing prevalence of noncommunicable diseases in Western countries, including cardiovascular disease (CVD). Responsibilities for cardiac patients' care have been studied, but little is described about patients' perspectives in this study.
Design:
A qualitative, hermeneutic inquiry.
Methods:
We used face-to-face individual semistructured interviews with 21 cardiac patients (76% male) aged 58-86 in an urban area of Finland in winter 2013. The data were analysed hermeneutically with inductive content analysis.
Results:
Based on our results, patients with cardiac disease understood that autonomy provided a basis for their responsibility in adherence to care. It included being able to make independent decisions, in collaboration with health professionals, or even to entrust that responsibility to healthcare professionals. Responsibilities were understood to be an expression of adherence, perceived to benefit the patient and included the duty to adopt a healthy lifestyle and care for their own medical condition. The main factors that influenced patients' responsibilities around adherence to care were their individual resources and motivation, relationships with healthcare professionals and the resources of the healthcare system.
Conclusion:
Autonomy is an inherent part of cardiac patients' adherence to care, but there has been little focus on their responsibilities in the literature. More attention needs to be paid to the healthcare providers' abilities to support patients' duties and responsibilities in clinical practice and to future research.
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