Let Us Take It into Our Own Hands: Patient Experience during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Patient Experience
1.2. Overview of Patient Experience Research during COVID-19
2. The Aim of the Current Study
3. Methods
3.1. Qualitative Research Team
3.2. Research Sample
3.3. In-Depth Interviews
Data Analysis: Consensual Qualitative Research
4. Results
4.1. Domain of Dealing with Health Issues on One’s Own
4.2. Domain of Dealing with Health Issues by Utilizing Healthcare Providers
4.3. General Patient Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic
4.4. Typical patient experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic
5. Discussion
Limitations
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Age | Gender | Education Level | Employment Status |
---|---|---|---|
18 | man | primary education | Unemployed |
19 | woman | secondary education | Student |
20 | man | secondary education | Student |
20 | woman | secondary education | Student |
20 | woman | secondary education | Student |
21 | man | secondary education | Student |
21 | woman | secondary education | Student |
22 | man | bachelor’s degree | Student |
23 | woman | secondary education | Student |
23 | man | secondary education | Student |
23 | man | bachelor’s degree | Student |
25 | woman | secondary education | Student |
26 | woman | bachelor’s degree | parental leave |
27 | woman | secondary education | Student |
27 | woman | master´s degree | employed or self-employed |
28 | woman | master´s degree | Student |
36 | woman | master´s degree | Unemployed |
38 | woman | master´s degree | employed or self-employed |
38 | woman | master´s degree | employed or self-employed |
38 | man | master´s degree | employed or self-employed |
39 | woman | master´s degree | employed or self-employed |
46 | woman | master´s degree | missing data |
54 | man | master´s degree | employed or self-employed |
Subdomains | Categories | Subcategories | Characteristics | Examples |
---|---|---|---|---|
Emotion-Focused Coping with Health Issues | Emotional Experiencing | Positive Emotional Experience | Feelings of Hope | “When I was able to get the medicine, I was holding it in my hand, I felt so much hope that we finally got it.” |
Feelings of Joy | “He was refusing to go to the hospital. I was not sure whether he was going to make it, but he did. And without going to the hospital. I was so happy, it felt like winning the lottery.” | |||
Savoring | “Despite my broken leg, I was still able to enjoy the summer. One friend even took me to a beach party one night.” | |||
Negative Emotional Experience | Feelings of Pain | “I could not deal with the pain. It was such an emotional turmoil.” | ||
Feelings of Sadness | “I felt it so strongly, I was so sad about what happened.” | |||
Feelings of Regret | “I felt so much regret about not being able to say goodbye to her.” | |||
Feelings of Anger | “So I was fighting the anger a bit, not just a bit, I was fighting the anger.” | |||
Feelings of Boredom | “I was at home on a medical leave, and I was bored.” | |||
Feelings of Hopelessness | “I spent the whole month trying to get the medicine. And I felt so hopeless, because there were contradicting opinions whether the medicine can help.” | |||
Feelings of Fear | “I felt a knot in my chest, huge heaviness, as if someone was putting pressure on me. That’s how anxious I felt.“ | |||
Feelings of Despair | “I felt so much despair. I have a lot of immunity-related health issues, such as asthma and different allergies, I was worried whether I would make it.” | |||
Emotional Processing | “I did not get used it, but I told myself, that even though it was not pleasant, I need to tolerate it.” | |||
Cognitive Coping with Health Issues | Reflecting on the Health Issue | The Realization of Having a Health Issue | “I was depressed before, so I was able to recognize the symptoms during early onset. I was not following my sleeping routine, because I did not have to.” | |
The Processing of One’s Health Issue | “I am really focused on thinking about it, I am processing. I am considering vaccination, but my father started having issues after being vaccinated, so that’s something to think about.” | |||
Overwhelmed by Health Issues | “I felt like my whole world was falling apart…” | |||
Description of Symptoms | Somatic Symptoms | “My health worsened, I started putting on weight, my eyesight got worse.” | ||
Psychological Symptoms | “I found it really hard to focus on school and on studying. I was not able to study.” | |||
Psychiatric Symptoms | “My (social phobia) condition worsened because I was not getting any practice talking to other people.” | |||
Acceptance of the Health Issue | “At last, we realized that it was what it was, and we needed to accept it.” | |||
Attention Regulation | Reality Bending | “On the other hand, I was trying to consciously ignore it. Five, six thousand people a day were getting sick during that time.” | ||
The Avoidance of Negative Triggers | “I made a conscious decision not to think about the possibility of my mother or other family member getting sick or not to think about how long the lockdown would last.” | |||
Shifting Attention Elsewhere | “Maybe my work with children, preparing the materials to teach them online helped me to redirect.” | |||
Behavior-Focused Coping with Health Issues | Information Seeking and Sharing | “I am trying to educate others, explain the issue to them in hopes that having more information would help them to cope with things more rationally.” | ||
Ways of Coping | Limiting Contact with Others | Becoming Closed-Off | “I stopped reaching out to my closest friends. I felt very distant from everyone, my friends and family included.” | |
Being Selective in Contact with Others | “I decreased my contact with people, especially the ones who had not have COVID. I did not want to expose them to it and I did not want to make others sick, especially my grandmother.” | |||
Spiritual Coping | “We are Christian, so our faith in God brought us some peace in this situation.” | |||
Adherence to Regulations and Responsibility | “Hand-washing, mask-wearing, complying with regulations. I did it all in an effort to be responsible.” | |||
Learning How to Cope | “strategies and coping skills, and I was learning to apply them.” | |||
Change in Habits | “I tried to do something new every day. That helped me to differentiate between days because otherwise I had trouble telling the days apart.” | |||
Looking for Solutions | “You just need to take matters into your own hands, just somehow deal with it.” | |||
Supporting Others During Their Health Issues | Giving Practical Help to Others | “We were able to get an oxygen machine for him to have at home because he refused to go to the hospital.” | ||
Taking Care of Others | “When she needed something, I bought it and brought it to her to the hospital.” | |||
Receiving Support From Others During One’s Health Issue | Getting Practical Help from Others | “I would find grocery bags left on the porch that were purchased and brought to us by our neighbours, grandparents, cousins, colleagues. They all took care of us.” | ||
Others Providing Care | “My work colleagues sent me flowers once, or sometimes someone sent a nice text message, and it really warmed my heart.” | |||
Mutual Support During Health Issues | “Our communication has intensified, as if there is now more space and love and some kind of mutual coexistence together…” | |||
Supporting Oneself During Health Issues | Taking Care of One’s Body | “Outdoor activities, primarily, such as hiking, biking, and others.” | ||
Taking Care of One’s Mind | “I was able to get myself together. I encourage myself to be more engaged in important areas of my life, such as at work or in relationships with my friends.” |
Subdomains | Categories | Subcategories | Examples |
---|---|---|---|
Healthcare Solutions | The Use of Healthcare Services | Choosing a Medical Provider | “I wanted to seek out a psychologist or psychotherapist due to my worsened mental health. Even issues from the past emerged that I thought were resolved.” |
Seeing a Medical Provider | “I started seeing my eye doctor because of this.” | ||
Calling a Medical Provider | “I was either able to find the information online or I called the practice and talked to the provider.” | ||
Functional Healthcare Services | “I had a fantastic primary care physician who would call me back more than once if I was not able to reach her earlier in the day.” | ||
Dysfunctional Healthcare Services | “It was very upsetting that I was taking such strong medication and I could not reach my provider. Finally, in April, I was able to get to them, but it took about three weeks.” | ||
Attitude toward Healthcare Services | Trust in Medical Providers | “I had trust in the doctor who performed my surgery.” | |
Doubts about Healthcare Utilization | ”I wanted to go home, I did not want to stay in the hospital. Actually, I was afraid to stay in the hospital, so I asked for early discharge and I left.” |
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Baránková, M.; Greškovičová, K.; Strnádelová, B.; Krizova, K.; Halamová, J. Let Us Take It into Our Own Hands: Patient Experience during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 14150. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114150
Baránková M, Greškovičová K, Strnádelová B, Krizova K, Halamová J. Let Us Take It into Our Own Hands: Patient Experience during the COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(21):14150. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114150
Chicago/Turabian StyleBaránková, Martina, Katarína Greškovičová, Bronislava Strnádelová, Katarina Krizova, and Júlia Halamová. 2022. "Let Us Take It into Our Own Hands: Patient Experience during the COVID-19 Pandemic" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 21: 14150. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114150