Participants’ descriptions of living with fibromyalgia : an interpretive descriptive study

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain syndrome that affects almost every aspect of a person's life and creates many demands on health care resources. We know very little, however, about what the experience of living with FM is like, from the perspective of afflicted individuals. This study add...

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Main Author: Cunningham, Margaret Mui Yeah
Format: Others
Language:English
Published: 2009
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2429/15160
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spelling ndltd-UBC-oai-circle.library.ubc.ca-2429-151602018-01-05T17:37:39Z Participants’ descriptions of living with fibromyalgia : an interpretive descriptive study Cunningham, Margaret Mui Yeah Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain syndrome that affects almost every aspect of a person's life and creates many demands on health care resources. We know very little, however, about what the experience of living with FM is like, from the perspective of afflicted individuals. This study addresses this gap in our knowledge, using the interpretive descriptive method described by Thorne, Reimer Kirkham, and MacDonald-Emes (1997) to elicit individuals' descriptions of their experiences of living with FM. The analytic framework that guided this inquiry was derived from the existing body of literature that addresses the experience of living with the condition. This literature was then compared with the findings of the current study to capture the essence of living with the phenomenon within the general context of the lives of the participants. Purposive theoretical sampling was used in this study. The researcher collected data through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a total of eight participants ranging in age from 31 to 79 years. The data were collected and analyzed concurrently using a constant comparative inductive analytic method. The findings of this study indicate that key aspects of individuals' experiences of living with FM consist of several interrelated major themes. One such theme is living with the symptoms of FM and enduring the subsequent impact of these symptoms on multiple facets of the participants' physical, emotional, mental, familial, social, working, recreational and economic lives. The second theme is the management of FM, which involves the key aspect of striving to achieve and maintain a balance. The third theme focuses on how the social, health care and political contexts shape the experience of individuals living with FM. The findings of this study suggest that persons with FM believe that there is a need for more education about the condition, especially among health care professionals; this would increase their effectiveness in caring for people with FM. Participants in this study felt that health care professionals need to acknowledge the suffering of individuals with FM, and to strive to support them in their efforts to live and manage the condition. Applied Science, Faculty of Nursing, School of Graduate 2009-11-17T19:52:48Z 2009-11-17T19:52:48Z 2004 2004-05 Text Thesis/Dissertation http://hdl.handle.net/2429/15160 eng For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. 9069565 bytes application/pdf
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description Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain syndrome that affects almost every aspect of a person's life and creates many demands on health care resources. We know very little, however, about what the experience of living with FM is like, from the perspective of afflicted individuals. This study addresses this gap in our knowledge, using the interpretive descriptive method described by Thorne, Reimer Kirkham, and MacDonald-Emes (1997) to elicit individuals' descriptions of their experiences of living with FM. The analytic framework that guided this inquiry was derived from the existing body of literature that addresses the experience of living with the condition. This literature was then compared with the findings of the current study to capture the essence of living with the phenomenon within the general context of the lives of the participants. Purposive theoretical sampling was used in this study. The researcher collected data through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a total of eight participants ranging in age from 31 to 79 years. The data were collected and analyzed concurrently using a constant comparative inductive analytic method. The findings of this study indicate that key aspects of individuals' experiences of living with FM consist of several interrelated major themes. One such theme is living with the symptoms of FM and enduring the subsequent impact of these symptoms on multiple facets of the participants' physical, emotional, mental, familial, social, working, recreational and economic lives. The second theme is the management of FM, which involves the key aspect of striving to achieve and maintain a balance. The third theme focuses on how the social, health care and political contexts shape the experience of individuals living with FM. The findings of this study suggest that persons with FM believe that there is a need for more education about the condition, especially among health care professionals; this would increase their effectiveness in caring for people with FM. Participants in this study felt that health care professionals need to acknowledge the suffering of individuals with FM, and to strive to support them in their efforts to live and manage the condition. === Applied Science, Faculty of === Nursing, School of === Graduate
author Cunningham, Margaret Mui Yeah
spellingShingle Cunningham, Margaret Mui Yeah
Participants’ descriptions of living with fibromyalgia : an interpretive descriptive study
author_facet Cunningham, Margaret Mui Yeah
author_sort Cunningham, Margaret Mui Yeah
title Participants’ descriptions of living with fibromyalgia : an interpretive descriptive study
title_short Participants’ descriptions of living with fibromyalgia : an interpretive descriptive study
title_full Participants’ descriptions of living with fibromyalgia : an interpretive descriptive study
title_fullStr Participants’ descriptions of living with fibromyalgia : an interpretive descriptive study
title_full_unstemmed Participants’ descriptions of living with fibromyalgia : an interpretive descriptive study
title_sort participants’ descriptions of living with fibromyalgia : an interpretive descriptive study
publishDate 2009
url http://hdl.handle.net/2429/15160
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