A Qualitative Study On Self-nasalgastric Feeding Experience In Patients With Crohn’s Disease

Objective The purpose of this study was to understand the reasons of patients living with Crohn’s disease for starting self-nasal feeding,the problems and solutions encountered during nasalgastric feeding,the impact of self-nasalgastric feeding on their lives and work,by exploring the self-nasalgastric feeding experience of these patients,to increase the understanding of clinical care staff and society to this population,and provide the basis for clinical intervention and social support.Methods Interpretive phenomenological approach was used.Purposive sampling was adopted to recruit participants who were diagnosed of Crohn’s disease and receiving nasalgastric feeding therapy.The participants were selected from the outpatient departments and inpatient departments of several general hospitals in Hangzhou.In-depth interviews were conducted with these participants.Data analysis was conducted primarily according to Benner’s analysis until the themes were saturated and there was no new theme generated.Results Eleven patients with Crohn’s disease were interviewed,four themes along with eight sub-themes were identified after data analysis.The first theme was ’rejecting nasalgastric feeding’,which included two sub-themes:"fearing the insertion of nasalgastric tube" and "having concerns".The second theme was ’accepting nasalgastric feeding reality’,which contained two sub-themes:"health being the most important" and "strength for supporting".The third theme ’nasalgastric feeding being a double-edged sword’ has two sub-themes:"troubles of nasalgastric feeding" and "effects of nasalgastric feeding".The last theme ’nasalgastric feeding being commonplace’also included two sub-themes:"accustomed to inserting the nasalgastric tube" and"nasalgastric feeding being part of life".Conclusion This study obtains the understanding of self-nasalgastric feeding experience in patients with Crohn’s disease.During the period of nasalgastric feeding,these patients face a lot of psychological tests,and many more troubles appearing in their life such as physical discomfort,abnormal eating and image and inconvenience,which can be solved by self-adjustment,and ultimately adapt to this life.But not each patients can adapt to the state,clinical care staff should call up doctors,nurses,patients and the society to help them adapt to the new life as early as possible.