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Women’s experience with myocardial infarction: a phenomenological approach
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Bowers, Michele |
| Copyright Year | 1996 |
| Abstract | The purpose of t h i s study was to examine the nature of women's experience of myocardial i n f a r c t i o n (MI) from a subjective perspective i n order to explore and describe how women made meaning of t h i s p o t e n t i a l l y l i f e threatening event. A phenomenological approach was used to guide the data c o l l e c t i o n and analysis. Data were co l l e c t e d through in-depth semistructured interviews with a volunteer sample of 10 female coresearchers hospitalized with MI at a l o c a l c i t y h o s p i t a l . The i n i t i a l interview focused on obtaining a description of coresearcher's experience and was conducted a f t e r women were transferred from the c r i t i c a l care unit to the cardiac ward. I conducted v a l i d a t i o n interviews with co-researchers several weeks post hospital discharge v i a telephone. The v a l i d a t i o n interview provided co-researchers with the opportunity to confirm or c l a r i f y my understanding of the description of t h e i r MI experience, as well as providing any further information that would c r y s t a l l i z e my understanding of t h e i r story. Audiotaped interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed according to Giorgi's (1975, 1985) method of phenomenological data analysis. Nine common themes emerged from the data including: (a) the experience of i l l n e s s awareness; (b) the experience of f e e l i n g emotionally overwhelmed; (c) the experience of fear and worry; (d) the experience of loss; (e) d i f f i c u l t y asking for help; (f) the experience of needing information; (g) the experience of care and support; (h) making sense of the MI experience; and (i) the experience of planning for the future. iii evident i n co-researcher accounts, the uniqueness of each woman was captured and r e f l e c t e d i n the variations i n which the themes were expressed. The implications of t h i s research suggest the importance of understanding women's experience of MI at a subjective l e v e l i n order to f u l l y understand the extent and nature of women's issues and concerns within t h i s area. Thus counselling psychologists should act as both educators and counsellors i n order to raise the awareness of other health professionals as to the nature of women's experience of MI, to as s i s t i n the teaching of s k i l l s that would better enable the implementation of patient-centered care, and to provide women a forum through which they can receive counselling related to issues surrounding MI. Moreover, results of t h i s study provide the basis for future research, and i n helping medical professionals implement the provision of cardiac care that i s more germane to women. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.14288/1.0054061 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://open.library.ubc.ca/media/download/pdf/831/1.0054061/1 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
