Discovering and Identifying the Lived Experience of the Affected Person and His Family in an Acute Encounter with One of the Types of Heart Diseases: A Phenomenological Study

Introduction: Accepting the fact that a member of the family has heart disease and the stress of living with a heart patient can be so effective in the family that it might change its nature. In this context, the present research was conducted to discover and identify the patient's and his family's lived experience with acute exposure to one type of heart disease. Methods: The present study was a qualitative research conducted through phenomenological analysis method in 2019 in Tehran. To collect data, semi-structured interviews were conducted regarding 6 patients hospitalized in the special care department of Baqiyatullah Hospital and 4 people accompanying the patients until the data saturation was reached. Data analysis was done using MAXQDA 20 software. Results: Based on the findings of this research, 19 sub-themes and 7 main themes were obtained regarding the initial experiences of cardiovascular problems (malfunction)and internal states related to cardiovascular disease, the initial experience of the family related to cardiovascular disease, the atmosphere of Participants' life before experiencing cardiovascular disease, life experiences before experiencing cardiovascular disease, perceived changes after experiencing cardiovascular disease, and finally, facing the experience of cardiovascular disease. Conclusion: The obtained results showed that suffering from cardiovascular diseases has wide psychological, social, and family consequences for the individual and their family. For this purpose, it is necessary to pay special attention to psychological aspects of these patients in addition to drug therapy.