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Home > HCAS > HCAS_PUBS > HCAS_JOURNALS > TQR Home > TQR > Vol. 26 > No. 6 (2021)

 

Abstract

Various studies suggest that ankylosing spondylitis (AS) as a chronic inflammatory disease with many disabilities can have impacts on different aspects of patients’ life. Despite many quantitative studies, only few qualitative studies have thus far been published on this subject. For the first time, the present study aims at gaining insight into the life experience of Iranian AS patients. We performed a content analysis through semi-structured interviews with twenty-eight patients diagnosed with AS, including three females and twenty-five males with an average age of 38.5 years, to gain insight into their experiences. Whatever the patients expressed was written and transcribed verbatim. Then, we did analysis of the results after each interview. The detailed information completely extracted from the interviews was classified as sub-themes and main themes. Three main themes were identified by the analysis: (i) “Always with pain” describing the effects were found in regard to pain on patients’ life, (ii) “The perceived limitation” describing many difficulties that people may face in the society as a result of their disease, and (iii) “Fearing the unknown future” which implies to both patients and their families have concerns about the future and what will happen. Our research findings in line with other qualitative studies showed that AS disease puts a heavy and intolerable burden on patients and their family. It seems that the experiences of people living with AS can be useful to meet challenges caused by the disease and it can enhance their coping with the disease.

Keywords

patient perspective, qualitative research, content analysis, rheumatic disease, ankylosing spondylitis

Author Bio(s)

Sara Shahba, MS, is currently a graduate student from School of Paramedicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran. Her area of research includes chronic inflammatory diseases. Please direct correspondence to sara.shahba@yahoo.com.

Reza Jafari-Shakib, MD-PhD, is an Associate Professor in Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran. His areas of research include immunology of infectious and autoimmune disease. Please direct correspondence to shakib@gums.ac.ir.

Mahdi Mahmoudi, PhD, is an Associate Professor in Rheumatology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. His area of research includes immunology of rheumatic diseases. Email: Please direct correspondence to mahmoudim@tums.ac.ir.

Ahmadreza Jamshidi, MD, is a Professor of Internal Medicine-Rheumatology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. His area of research includes rheumatic diseases. Email: Please direct correspondence to jamshida@tums.ac.ir.

Mahdi Vojdanian, MD, is a Rheumatologist in Rheumatology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. His area of research includes rheumatic diseases. Email: Please direct correspondence to vojdanian@gmail.com.

Parand Pourghane, PhD., is an Associate Professor in Department of Nursing in the Zeynab (PBUH) School of Nursing and Midwifery at Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran. Her areas of research include education, cardiac rehabilitation and qualitative studies, Content analysis. Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed directly to: Please direct correspondence to pourghanep@gmail.com.

Acknowledgements

Researchers of the present study thank all the participants for their contribution in this study and sharing their experiences. We would like to express their gratitude to Guilan University of Medical Sciences and Tehran University of Medical Sciences for their financial supports. In addition, we would like to appreciate the Rheumatology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran for its providing facility to interview with the patients. We declare no conflict of interest exists in this study.

Publication Date

6-7-2021

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4694

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