Hear My Voice! The Experience of Self-Advocacy Among Patients with Enterostomy: A Qualitative Study

Objective: This qualitative study aimed to understand the experience of self-advocacy among patients with enterostomy and to identify the behaviors, influencing factors, and benefits of self-advocacy. Methods: A descriptive phenomenological method was used, and the study was conducted from April to June 2024. A total of 17 patients with enterostomy were interviewed, and Colaizzi's seven-step method was used to analyze interview data. Results: Three themes and thirteen sub-themes were generated: behaviors of self-advocacy (information seeking, effective communication, support seeking, and decision making), influencing factors of self-advocacy (type of enterostomy, economic burden, caregiving burden, stigma, and social support), and benefits of self-advocacy (enhancing self-care skills, enhancing physiological-psychological-social adaptability, dietary habit modification, and peer support). Conclusions: Self-advocacy is a critical tool for overcoming challenges, meeting needs, and cultivating connected strength, and targeted interventions could be designed to improve the levels of self-advocacy and self-management.