Abstract:
The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore illness experience of persons with chronic diabetic foot ulcers focused on dealing with foot ulcers. Phenomenological perspective was used as guided to understand the person's experiences. By using purposive sampling, 12 participants were recruited for this study. Participants were those with chronic diabetic foot ulcers and were continuously treated for over two weeks. Data were collected by in-depth interview. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Content analysis technique guided by Burnard (1991) was applied for data analysis. The illness experiences revealed and organized as follows: 1) Foot ulcer was viewed as an unhealed and invasive illness; 2) Feeling towards foot ulcer included fearing of possible limb loss, becoming a burden, living a worthless life, and being under stress; 3) Beliefs of illness causation included beginning from typical sore, and becoming chronic due to lack of self care; 4) Impacts of illness included moving with difficulty, having sleeplessness, abstaining from preferred foods, and growing burden of wound care; and 5) Dealing with illness included accepting illness, following instruction, and finding ways to tolerate with ulcers.