The experience and reactions reported by family caregivers of vegetative patients: Qualitative Content Analysis

Abstract

Background and objective: vegetative life occurs after serious and widespread damage of brain cortex and deep coma and because of the certain conditions, the responsibility of care for these patients is on their family after discharging from the hospital which influences the physical and mental health of caregivers. The aim of this study is explaining the patient care process for vegetative patients. Methodology: this descriptive-analytical study was conducted by qualitative method in June 2018 in Tehran. Participants of the study were 8 individuals who were selected based on the purposive sampling. Data were collected by deep and unstructured interviews and observation until data saturation and emergence of the main themes in the face-to-face form. Data were analyzed by content analysis. Findings: the results of the data analysis regarding the challenges of the vegetative patients' caregiver indicated 5 main themes and 15 sub-themes as the research axes. The main themes include internal conflict, family reaction, communication with patient, family relationships and difficulty of care. Conclusion: family caregivers of vegetative patients experience various challenges from conflict to problems in the relations and difficulty in care. The results of this study can be considered in the planning care and treatment of patients before, during and after discharge by top policy-makers and managers, middle managers and nursing managers in determining educational, care and therapeutic needs of patients and families of these patients.