Spouse's Experiences of Living with Patients with Spinal Cord Injuries: A Phenomenological Study

Spinal cord injuries are a major public health problem. Spinal cord injuries are the most important cause of disability around the world. Understanding of spouse's experiences of living with these patients by the health worker team can play a significant role in minimizing disability consequences and burden of the spouses. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the experiences and perceptions of spouses of patients with spinal cord injuries.
In this phenomenological qualitative study, 15 spouses of patients with spinal cord injuries were selected from Tehran rehabilitation centers for spinal cord injuries during 2014-2015 and were interviewed. The participants were selected using the purposeful sampling method. Data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews and analyzed using the Collizi's method.
Based on the results of the collizi's analysis, 3 major themes and 12 sub-themes were extracted. The three major themes included "encountering with multiple constraints and challenges", "non-supportive structure", and "need to care with support". Need to support in spite of some restrictions was the essence of the participant's experiences.
The findings show that providing care and support to these patients by their spouses is very necessary. Experiences of the patient's spouses can help health care workers and policy makers to eliminate the barriers and enable the patient's families to confront the disabilities and consequences of injuries by implementing the training programs for patients and their families.