COPD patients and eating : the status, the meaning and the nurse's role

1997 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 08672685
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Nursing
• Research Institution: Nagano College of Nursing
• Principal Investigator: KONISI Emiko Nagano College of Nursing, Science of Caring, Professor, 看護学部, 教授 (70011054)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): SUZUKI Mariko Nagano College of Nursing, Dept.of Fundamental Nursing, Instructor, 看護学部, 助手 (10281255) ; OHTA Katumasa Nagano College of Nursing, Dept.of Fundamental Nursing, Associata Professor, 看護学部, 助教授 (60194156) ; SOYANO Ayako Nagano College of Nursing, Science of Caring, Instructor, 看護学部, 助手 (20281256) ; ASAHARA Kiyomi Nagano College of Nursing, Science of Caring, Associata Professor, 看護学部, 助教授 (80240795) ; OKUBO Ikuko Nagano College of Nursing, Science of Caring, Instructor, 看護学部, 助手
• Project Period (FY): 1996 – 1997
• Keywords: COPD / eating / nurse's role / エスノグラフィー

Research Abstract

Nutritional status in the COPD patients influences the patients' prognosis and life quality. All too frequently, however, therapeutic management of COPD is focused only on the use of pharmacological agents, and the issue of how patients are eating is overlooked. In this study, we the nurses addressed the nutritional issues as an integral component of life quality of the patients. The purpose of the study was to examine those patients' 1) eating status and 2) meaning of eating. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 48 patients requiring continuous home oxygen therapy (HOT) living in a centrally located rural area of Japan. The data analyzes were done statistically for the study porpose 1), and qualitatively using ethnography for the purpose 2). The results indicated that although the patients were experiencing problems such as reduced appetite, pre/post-meal dypnea, early satiety, bloating, and dryness and pain in the mouth, they exhibited various positive attitudes towards eating. The meanings of eating for those patients were 1) eating is a component of remedial action, and 2) eating is an indicator of living. The nurse's role in giving nutritious advice and supporting the the patient's pleasure of eating emerged from the data.