1. Self-care in Adults With a Retro-auricular Left Ventricular Assist Device: An Interpretive Description.
- Author
-
Trenta, Alessia Martina, Luciani, Michela, Moro, Massimo, Patella, Sara, Di Mauro, Stefania, Vellone, Ercole, and Ausil, Davide
- Subjects
- *
LEFT heart ventricle surgery , *HEART failure treatment , *SOCIAL support , *RESEARCH methodology , *HEART assist devices , *INTERVIEWING , *ACTIVITIES of daily living , *PATIENTS' attitudes , *EXPERIENCE , *LEARNING , *FIELD notes (Science) , *HEALTH behavior , *THEMATIC analysis , *JUDGMENT sampling , *PSYCHOLOGICAL adaptation , *HEALTH self-care , *DIFFUSION of innovations , *OLD age , *MIDDLE age - Abstract
Having a retro-auricular left ventricular assist device (LVAD) requires patients to learn specific self-care behaviors, with a considerable burden; the present study aimed at exploring and describing the experience of self-care in this population. An Interpretive Description was conducted, informing the analysis with the Middle-Range Theory of Self-care of Chronic Illness. A purposeful sample of ten people with a retro-auricular LVAD participated in in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Four themes were identified: Innovations and Limitations in Daily Life, Problems Detection, Response to Problems, and Learning Process. All of these were deeply influenced by a cross-cutting theme: Support System. People with a retro-auricular LVAD have self-care needs different from those of people with heart failure or with the abdominal version of the device, and there is a great need for targeted intervention that could be developed in consideration of our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF