Abstract:
This study described the lived experiences of patients living with indwelling urethral catheter in the Ajumako Enyan Essiam District of the Central Region of Ghana. The specific objectives were: to explore patients’ experiences related to living with indwelling urethral catheter on patients’ lives; explore the challenges faced by patients who use indwelling urethral catheter; investigatecoping strategies utilized by patient’s living with indwelling urethral catheter. A qualitative, phenomenological design was used for the study. Purposive sampling technique was utilized in selecting the participants for the study. Data were collected using semi-structured face to face interviews of ten (10) patients at the emergency unit and at patient’s homes. The interviews were tape recorded with permission from the participants, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed following Colaizzi’s (1978) strategy of descriptive phenomenological data analysis. The analysis revealed both positive and negative experiences which were categorized into Six (6) themes namely: physical impact; psychological impact; social impact; financial impact; coping strategies; information-seeking behaviours. Based on findings from this study the researcher is of the view that, nurses should make it a point to counsel patients’ properly, most especially on sexual and emotional needs and also should always make available all needed information (written or verbal) about the catheter to patients as this will help alleviate patients’ frustration and also enable patients to cope with the indwelling urethral catheter.
