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Female patients with congestive heart failure: how they conceive their life situation
J Mårtensson1, J E Karlsson, B Fridlund
1Department of Cardiology, Ryhov County Hospital, Jönköping, Sweden.
Insights
Congestive heart failure (CHF) significantly impacts elderly women, often leading to feelings of limitation and powerlessness. Nursing interventions can help women with CHF regain control and self-esteem by addressing their concerns and enhancing self-care knowledge.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Gerontology
- Nursing
Background:
- Congestive heart failure (CHF) presents unique challenges for women, especially the elderly.
- Risk factors differ, with hypertension and diabetes more prevalent in women, while ischemic heart disease is more common in men.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the lived experiences of female patients with CHF from a nursing perspective.
- To understand how women with CHF perceive their biophysical, socio-cultural, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual-existential situations.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative methodology utilizing a phenomenographic approach.
- In-depth interviews focusing on five key life dimensions.
Main Results:
- Five emergent themes: contentment, support, limitation, anxiety, and powerlessness.
- Feelings of limitation in work capacity and supporting others contribute to anxiety and insecurity.
- Women with CHF may experience worthlessness, feeling like a burden and questioning their self-worth.
Conclusions:
- Nursing interventions are crucial for breaking the cycle of limitation and powerlessness in women with CHF.
- Encouraging verbalization of feelings, setting realistic goals, and enhancing self-care knowledge can improve outcomes.
- These interventions can foster hope, control, competence, and self-esteem in women managing CHF.
Abstract:
Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a significant health problem for women, particularly elderly women. The risk factors for heart failure appear to be different in women than in men, with hypertension and diabetes playing a greater role in women and ischaemic heart disease a greater role in men. The aim of this study was to describe, from a nurse's perspective, how female patients with CHF conceive their life situation. Interview questions were designed with a focus on five dimensions: biophysical, socio-cultural, emotional, intellectual and spiritual-existential. A qualitative method was used with a phenomenographic approach, as this approach examines aspects of the surroundings as they are conceived. Five categories emerged in the results: feeling content, feeling a sense of support, feeling a sense of limitation, feeling anxiety and feeling powerless. A sense of limitation regarding working capacity and being able to support those in their surroundings causes patients with CHF to experience anxiety due to feeling insecure about themselves and in relation to their surroundings. This may result in feelings of worthlessness in women with CHF, both concerning their own capacity and the fact that they feel they are a burden to those around them. Through nursing intervention, these patients can receive help to break this vicious circle of feeling limited and powerless. This can be done by encouraging them to verbalize their feelings and set realistic goals and expectations, and by increasing their knowledge and that of their families concerning CHF and its symptoms, with a focus on self-care and existing possibilities. These measures will make it easier for women with CHF to maintain a hopeful perspective and a sense of control, competence, and self-esteem.