Illness Experience: Living with Arrhythmia and Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator

Purpose: To describe the illness experience of patients living with arrhythmia and implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) and evaluate their experience after implantation of the device for gaining insight on care suitable for their condition.Methods: In this qualitative descriptive study, we conducted semi-structured interviews of 22 outpatients who were visiting certified implant facilities.Results: Three categories and seven subcategories emerged from the interviews. The ICD patients were (1) Bewilderment Stemming from Arrhythmia and ICD Implant, (2) Facing the Reality of Arrhythmia, the ICD and Being Able To Continue Life, and (3) Giving Meaning to Living With Arrhythmia and an ICD. The ICD patients first experience bewilderment in the form of [Uncertainty about One’s Own Bodies], [Fear of Arrhythmia Ending My Life], and [Dissatisfaction with Unforeseen Results of the ICD]. After discharge from the hospital following ICD implantation, they slowly resumed their own lifestyles and [Facing the Reality of the ICD and Being Able to Continue Life] and [Confirming and Managing Lifestyle Activities]. As they recognized, objectified, and faced changes in their lifestyles, they began to practically see themselves as living with arrhythmia which required ICD-aided treatment, [Giving Meaning to One’s Illness] and [Recognition of One’s Disease]. And so, they reknit their lives integrated with arrhythmia and an ICD. We expressed these results in a schematic model as “Learning to Live with Arrhythmia and the ICD”.Conclusion: These results can be used to provide a perspective for assessing care to help patients adapt to life after ICD implantation

Time-Dependent Changes in Psychosocial Distress in Japanese Patients with Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators

This prospective study clarified changes in the mood states of Japanese patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators as well as factors related to the mood states. Using a longitudinal repeated-measure design, 29 patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators completed the Profile of Mood States-Short Form Japanese Version questionnaire before discharge and 1, 4, 7, and 13 months after implantation. One month after discharge, the mood states of the patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators improved. From 7 to 13 months after discharge, moods deteriorated; 13 months after discharge, moods were equivalent to those at the time of discharge. No relationship with defibrillation experience was detected in this study, but employment, age, sex, and lack of experience of syncopal attack were factors related to poor mood states for patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators. Therefore, Japanese patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators with any factor deteriorating their mood state should be monitored so that their mood state does not deteriorate again between six months and one year after implantation

Illness Experience: Living with Arrhythmia and Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator

Purpose: To describe the illness experience of patients living with arrhythmia and implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) and evaluate their experience after implantation of the device for gaining insight on care suitable for their condition.Methods: In this qualitative descriptive study, we conducted semi-structured interviews of 22 outpatients who were visiting certified implant facilities.Results: Three categories and seven subcategories emerged from the interviews. The ICD patients were (1) Bewilderment Stemming from Arrhythmia and ICD Implant, (2) Facing the Reality of Arrhythmia, the ICD and Being Able To Continue Life, and (3) Giving Meaning to Living With Arrhythmia and an ICD. The ICD patients first experience bewilderment in the form of [Uncertainty about One’s Own Bodies], [Fear of Arrhythmia Ending My Life], and [Dissatisfaction with Unforeseen Results of the ICD]. After discharge from the hospital following ICD implantation, they slowly resumed their own lifestyles and [Facing the Reality of the ICD and Being Able to Continue Life] and [Confirming and Managing Lifestyle Activities]. As they recognized, objectified, and faced changes in their lifestyles, they began to practically see themselves as living with arrhythmia which required ICD-aided treatment, [Giving Meaning to One’s Illness] and [Recognition of One’s Disease]. And so, they reknit their lives integrated with arrhythmia and an ICD. We expressed these results in a schematic model as “Learning to Live with Arrhythmia and the ICD”.Conclusion: These results can be used to provide a perspective for assessing care to help patients adapt to life after ICD implantation