Abstract

Chronic heart failure is a common disease in elderly, and is the most common reason for hospitalization in patients over 65 years of age. Research on the elderly and heart failure often focus on treatment strategies, less research is available on patients' own experiences of living with chronic heart failure. The purpose of this interview study, was to gain more knowledge about patients´ own experiences of living with chronic heart failure. Nine patients were interviewed and the text was transcribed verbatim and it was then analyzed with a phenomenological hermeneutical method. From the analysis, three main themes emerged. The analysis showed that all patients had lack of knowledge in terms of their disease, but also, knowledge about treatment and self-care was scarce. Living with chronic heart failure also affected the daily life negative in many ways. Isolation, difficulty to manage daily activities and, above all, lack of energy made the quality of life poor. All patients were dependent on help from relatives or outsiders in order to complete their daily lives. However, several informants could not see the need for more help from outside and relied entirely on the help and support from relatives. This leads to an unsustainable home situation with repeated admissions to hospital as a result. Conclusion: We nurses need to be better at helping patients to be more involved in their treatment and to take more responsibility for their own self-care. We should also involve and support family members and motivate the patient to accept professional help, and then we might reduce several readmissions and improve patients’ wellbeing.