Qualitative analysis of the male experience of heart failure

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to gain insight from the patient's perspective into how it is to live with moderate chronic heart failure (HF). METHODS: Twenty men with moderate chronic HF in New York Heart Association classes II to III, aged 43 to 73 years, were interviewed with open-ended questions. The interviews were analyzed using qualitative inductive content analysis as a method. RESULTS: Both the consequences of the illness and how the patients adjusted to them were described in the narratives. The consequences were physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and vocational and included thoughts about death. Adjusting to the illness involved changing one's lifestyle, being aware of one's physical ability and disability, developing psychologic strategies, and adjusting to medication. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study demonstrate a wider range of disabilities as a consequence of moderate chronic HF and show several more ways of adjusting to the illness than previously reported in men.