IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i15p5434-d391004.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Meaning of Surviving Three Years after a Heart Transplant—A Transition from Uncertainty to Acceptance through Adaptation

Author

Listed:
  • Catharina Lindberg

    (Department of Health Sciences, Blekinge Institute of Technology, 374 35 Karlskrona, Sweden)

  • Matilda Almgren

    (Care in High Tech Environments, Institute of Health Sciences at Lund University, 221 00 Lund, Sweden)

  • Annette Lennerling

    (The Transplant Centre, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, 413 45 Gothenburg, Sweden
    Institute of Health and Care Sciences, The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden)

  • Anna Forsberg

    (Care in High Tech Environments, Institute of Health Sciences at Lund University, 221 00 Lund, Sweden
    Department of Thoracic Surgery, Skåne University Hospital, 222 42 Lund, Sweden)

Abstract

The rationale was to longitudinally follow-up interviews performed with heart recipients at their one-year examination in order to deepen the understanding of the meaning of surviving a heart transplant. The aim was to explore the meaning of surviving three years after a heart transplant compared to one year and to identify what constitutes the change process. A phenomenological–hermeneutic method was used. This multicenter study was carried out at the two hospitals in Sweden where heart transplants are performed. A total of 13 heart recipients who survived three years after a heart transplant were invited to participate in this three-year follow-up study and 12 accepted, 3 women and 9 men, with a mean age of 51.25 years. The naïve understanding revealed that the heart recipients strongly accepted their life situation and that time had enabled this acceptance of limitations through adaptation. The thematic structural analyses cover six themes illustrating the meaning of acceptance and adaptation, i.e., accepting life as it is, adapting to post-transplant limitations, adapting to a changed body, social adaptation, showing gratitude and trusting oneself and others. In conclusion, achieving acceptance and a solid sense of self-efficacy after heart transplantation is a time-consuming process that involves courage to face and accept the reality and adapt in every life dimension.

Suggested Citation

  • Catharina Lindberg & Matilda Almgren & Annette Lennerling & Anna Forsberg, 2020. "The Meaning of Surviving Three Years after a Heart Transplant—A Transition from Uncertainty to Acceptance through Adaptation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-11, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:15:p:5434-:d:391004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/15/5434/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/15/5434/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Matilda Almgren & Annette Lennerling & Martina Lundmark & Anna Forsberg, 2017. "Self‐efficacy in the context of heart transplantation – a new perspective," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(19-20), pages 3007-3017, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michela Luciani & Emanuela Rossi & Paola Rebora & Michael Stawnychy & Davide Ausili & Barbara Riegel, 2021. "Clinical and Socio-demographic Determinants of Self-care Maintenance, Monitoring and Management in US Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus," Clinical Nursing Research, , vol. 30(3), pages 285-292, March.
    2. Marita Dalvindt & Shahab Nozohoor & Annika Kisch & Annette Lennerling & Anna Forsberg, 2020. "Symptom Occurrence and Distress after Heart Transplantation—A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Cohort Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-13, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:15:p:5434-:d:391004. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.