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Microscopic colitis: Struggling with an invisible, disabling disease
Author(s) -
Pihl Lesnovska Katarina,
Münch Andreas,
Hjortswang Henrik
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of clinical nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.94
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1365-2702
pISSN - 0962-1067
DOI - 10.1111/jocn.14916
Subject(s) - microscopic colitis , everyday life , worry , quality of life (healthcare) , qualitative research , medicine , disease , relevance (law) , inflammatory bowel disease , psychology , pathology , nursing , psychiatry , anxiety , social science , sociology , political science , law
Background and aims Microscopic colitis causes chronic or recurrent nonbloody, watery diarrhoea, which is associated with urgency, faecal incontinence and abdominal pain. The patient's health‐related quality of life is often impaired. In microscopic colitis, health‐related quality of life has been studied using questionnaires originally constructed and validated for patients with inflammatory bowel disease. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of microscopic colitis on everyday life. Methods and results Inductive, qualitative, semi‐structured interviews were performed with 15 persons suffering from microscopic colitis. Content analysis was used to explore the impact of the condition on everyday life. The study followed the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research. The qualitative inductive content analysis generated one theme and five subthemes. The theme was “struggling with an invisible, disabling disease.” The five subthemes were as follows: physical experience of bowel function; associated symptoms affecting quality of life; impact of the disease on everyday life; disease‐related worry; and strategies for managing everyday life. Conclusions The semi‐structured interviews with persons suffering from microscopic colitis provided a wide spectrum of answers to the question of how everyday life is affected. Microscopic colitis can be a disabling life experience, and patients develop different strategies to adapt, cope and regain their previous performance level. Relevance to clinical practice There are new and interesting findings in our study that everyday life still remains affected even when patients are in remission. These findings have relevance in clinical practice and may create a better understanding of the patient's symptoms and situation.