The experiences of family resilience in patients with permanent colostomy and their spouses: A dyadic qualitative study

Fangfang Yang; Sumin Cui; Mengyi Cai; Fangming Feng; Meihui Zhao; Mengchen Sun; Weiying Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.ejon.2024.102590

The experiences of family resilience in patients with permanent colostomy and their spouses: A dyadic qualitative study

Eur J Oncol Nurs. 2024 Apr 16:70:102590. doi: 10.1016/j.ejon.2024.102590. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Fangfang Yang¹, Sumin Cui², Mengyi Cai³, Fangming Feng¹, Meihui Zhao⁴, Mengchen Sun⁴, Weiying Zhang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nursing, Shanghai East Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200120, China.
² Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200092, China; Department of Nursing, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 20000, China.
³ Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200092, China.
⁴ Department of Nursing, Shanghai East Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200120, China; Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200092, China.
⁵ Department of Nursing, Shanghai East Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200120, China. Electronic address: zhangwy_cn@126.com.

PMID: 38677217
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejon.2024.102590

Abstract

Purpose: With the prolonged survival time of patients with permanent colostomy for colorectal cancer, they and their spouses face tremendous pressure and development dilemmas that can easily lead to family adaptation crises. This qualitative study amid to explore the dyadic experiences of family resilience among Chinese patients with permanent colostomy and their spouses.

Methods: A phenomenological research method was adopted. Semi-structured, in-depth, face-to-face interviews with 10 dyads of patients with permanent colostomy and their spouses were recruited through purposive sampling from a public tertiary hospital in China from March 2023 to July 2023.The Dyadic interview analysis and Colaizzi methods were used to analyze the interview data.

Results: Three themes and nine subthemes were developed. (1) family crisis and dichotomous coping with stress-family crisis and coping pressure caused by enterostomy; (2) Adjustment and adaptation within the family-Joint adjustment and adaptation within the couple's family; and (3) integration and utilization of multi-dimensional social external resources (micro-level, meso-level, and macro-level).

Conclusions: Couples living with permanent colostomy often undergo a complex emotional journey, experiencing varied levels of individual stress as they navigate social interactions and daily activities, which can contribute to a decline in family adaptation. With the help of the perspective of family advantage, health practitioners should pay attention to the evaluation of individual factors and family environmental resources, to fully mobilize advantage resources and give effective interventions to improve the family and social adaptation level of patients and their spouses.

Keywords: Cancer; Couples; Dyadic; Family resilience; Oncology; Permanent colostomy; Qualitative study.