A qualitative research of idiopathic granulomatous mastitis patients

Objective To thoroughly investigate the genuine emotional experience of patients with idiopathic granulomatous mastitis(IGM)pre-and post-treatment.Methods A purposive sampling method was adopted to select 13 patients with idiopathic granulomatous mastitis(IGM)as study objects during Feb to Dec 2016 who were all from the Department of Breast Surgery,the first affiliated hospital of Xiamen University.In addition,hermeneutic phenomenological method was performed in different ways including face-to-face interview,semi-structured interview,indepth interview,live recording and subject analysis of these collected data in hermeneutics rota⁃tion principle.Results The genuine emotional experience of patients with idiopathic granuloma⁃tous mastitis(IGM)pre-and post-treatment could be summarized into six subjects,through the thoroughly analysis of interview data,including change of sleep state,fatigue,lack of knowledge of disease,difficult to adapt to treatment state,worries and fears,and positive views of prosthesis implantation.Conclusion Lifestyle change among patient was prevalent pre-idiopathic granulo⁃matous mastitis,and patient always suffered from negative emotions and lack of disease knowl⁃edge once developed it.Therefore,it would demand medical staff to be committed to health edu⁃cation,communication with patients,and discovery problems in the first time.Moreover,posi⁃tive pertinent measures were appealed to improve confidence to overcome the suffering,and to ease or eliminate the negative emotion for recovery promotion.