"In their own words": delineating the contours of dyspnea invisibility in patients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease from quantitative discourse analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Dyspnea conveys an upsetting or distressing experience of breathing awareness. It heavily weighs on chronic respiratory disease patients, particularly when it persists despite maximal treatment of causative abnormalities. The physical, psychological and social impacts of persistent dyspnea are ill-appreciated by others. This invisibility constitutes a social barrier and impedes access to care. This study aimed to better understand dyspnea invisibility in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) through quantitative discourse analysis.

Methods

We conducted a lexicometric analysis (lemmatization, descending hierarchical classification, multicomponent analysis, similarity analysis) of 11 patients' discourses (6 men, severe COPD; immediate postexacer

SUBMITTER: Dedonder J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10768212 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature