An ethnographic approach to understanding the illness experiences of patients with congestive heart failure and their family members

Objective: The purpose was to understand the illness experiences of patients with congestive heart failure and their family members. Design And Setting: The study design was a focused ethnography that took place in 1 outpatient cardiology clinic, 2 outpatient heart failure clinics, and informants’ homes located in a large metropolitan city in southeast Texas. Sample: The sample consisted of 28 informants (patients, n = 16; family members, n = 12). Method: Data were collected from observations, participant observations, demographic forms, chart reviews, and interviews. Interviews were open-ended, semistructured, in-depth, and audiotaped. A thematic analysis process was conducted through domain analysis and constructing data into themes and subthemes. Findings: Patients with congestive heart failure and their family members experience a process of disruption, incoherence, and reconciling. Reconciling emerged as the salient experience described by informants and was manifested as struggling, participating in partnerships, finding purpose and meaning in the illness experiences, and surrendering. (Heart Lung® 2001;30:429-36.)