Lived Experience with Cirrhosis of Liver Patient at a University Hospital: A Qualitative Study

Introduction: Patients’ physical, psychosocial, economical, spiritual and daily activities as well as quality of life are mostly affected by the cirrhosis of liver. It is an advanced stage of liver fibrosis that mostly caused by hepatitis B and hepatitis C, and alcoholism. Objective: This study is intended to explore the lived experience of the patient’s with cirrhosis of liver patients. Methodology: A Phenomenological study design was used as a research methodology to elicit in-depth understanding of lived experience of the hospitalized adult cirrhosis of liver patients at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Twenty patients with cirrhosis of liver were purposively interviewed using guidelines until data were saturated. Recorded voice was checked by participants to establish trustworthiness. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and translated. Content analysis was used to explore the structure of meaning of the lived experienced cirrhosis of liver patients. Results: The average age of the cirrhosis of liver patients was 43.85 (±15.06) and most of them were male, Muslim and married. The average duration of suffering from this disease was 2.07 year ± 3.95. The lived experiences of cirrhosis of liver patients emerged at five themes: uncertainty about disease and its causes;feeling worse;living in physical impairment and economical crisis;coping with disease and self-actualization about prevention of cirrhosis of liver. Conclusion: People with cirrhosis of liver have unpredictable sufferings. The study findings would help the nurses to realize the patient’s condition for providing proper nursing care and prevent associate complications. It may also assist in conducting further research.