Coping Strategies and Experiences of Patients With Crohn's Disease During the
COVID
‐19 Epidemic: A Descriptive Phenomenology Study
Danlei Chen, Wan Mei, Qing Liu, Zhihui Yu, Ting Pan, Ailing Zhang, Fang Kong, Yan Chen ABSTRACT
Aims
To describe the flexible coping strategies and measures made by Crohn's disease patients during the COVID‐19 epidemic to determine their experiences with COVID‐19 and epidemic management.
Design
A descriptive phenomenology study based on interviews.
Methods
Twelve patients with Crohn's disease were interviewed from two Grade III and Grade A hospitals in Nanjing from February 2022 to June 2022. Twelve interviews were audio‐taped or recorded live and content was analysed following Colaizzi's seven‐step method. Transcripts were verbatim transcribed and analysed using Colaizzi's seven‐step descriptive phenomenological method. Data management was supported by NVivo 11 software.
Results
The analysis of interviews identified five themes and 14 subthemes. Crohn's disease patients demonstrated a capacity for adapting to the evolving landscape of medical care during the COVID‐19 epidemic, underscoring the importance of self‐management. Patients took voluntary measures to cope with the continuous adjustment of epidemic management, such as flexible adjustment of medical treatment plans. Improving existing management measures may help both healthcare professionals and patients in effectively responding to infectious disease epidemics, which suggests that we should pay attention to humanized management and hospital construction in the future. Additionally, we should pay more attention to the psychological impact of COVID‐19, both positive and negative.
Patient or Public Contribution
No patient or public contribution.