The impact of community-based pulmonary rehabilitation on the health and lives of migrant workers with pneumoconiosis in China: a qualitative study exploring patient experience

Globally, China has the highest prevalence and incidence of pneumoconiosis, which mainly occurs among migrant workers employed in dusty work environments. Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is recommended as the most effective therapeutic strategy in managing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and recent quantitative studies have validated PR’s effect on the health outcomes of patients with pneumoconiosis. However, qualitative evidence regarding PR’s impact on pneumoconiosis patients’ health and lives is lacking in the literature. Therefore, this study aimed to address this knowledge gap by exploring the experience of pneumoconiosis patients in community-based PR (CBPR). A qualitative study based on the phenomenological perspective was conducted. The convenience　sampling method was used to recruit pneumoconiosis patients attending a CBPR program supported by a patient advocacy non-governmental organisation. Web-based semi-structured interviews were conducted using a self-made interview guide. Thematic analysis was performed to analyse the interview data. This study was conducted after gaining ethical approval and informed consent from all participants. Fifteen migrant workers with pneumoconiosis patients aged 49 to 71 years old (median: 54 years old) participated in this study. Four themes were identified from the interview data: triggering of a difficult life, reconstruction of life, sense of empowerment, and gaps in PR. Pneumoconiosis severely impaired participants’ well-being, and it triggered heavy financial strain and care burden in their families. The CBPR program allowed them to restore their physical and psychosocial health, and they achieved reconstructing their lives by leading a PR-centred life. Participating in the CBPR program, pneumoconiosis patients recognised multiple supports and were empowered with enhanced disease-coping abilities and strengthened hope to survive. Overall, participants reflected on their positive experience in the CBPR program, despite their unmet needs and existing barriers in PR. The CBPR program integrating multiple supports empowered the vulnerable migrant workers with pneumoconiosis and facilitated their health transition and life reconstruction experience. To optimise their PR experience and improve their QoL, health service addressing their unmet needs and barriers in PR is needed. PR for pneumoconiosis patients with different sociodemographic characteristics and family-oriented management of pneumoconiosis should be explored in future research.