"Wounds Home Alone"-Why and How Venous Leg Ulcer Patients Self-Treat Their Ulcer: A Qualitative Content Study.

ABSTRACT: Venous leg ulcers (VLUs), the most common type of leg ulcerations, have long healing times and high recurrence rates; reimbursement rules and a general shortage of nursing staff have put self-treatment into focus. The study aimed to investigate why and how patients with VLUs self-treat their ulcers. Patients with VLUs (N = 32) were selected by criterion sampling for a multicentric qualitative study using semi-structured interviews. The interviews were analyzed via inductive qualitative content analysis. More than two-thirds of participants sometimes self-treated VLU and one quarter changed their prescribed treatment. Experiences were expressed through four themes as follows: (a) current local VLU therapy; (b) VLU self-treatment; (c) patient education; and (d) psychosocial issues. The main

SUBMITTER: Zulec M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6406886 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature