Abstract

SALINAS PEREZ, Virginia; ROGERO ANAYA, Petra; ONA GONZALEZ, Ana Mª  and  VERGARA CARRASCO, María Luisa. Discovering the meaning of the phenomena of chronic disease, progression and singularity in the multiple sclerosis diagnosis. Index Enferm [online]. 2012, vol.21, n.3, pp.126-130. ISSN 1699-5988.  https://dx.doi.org/10.4321/S1132-12962012000200004.

Justification: The patients will assign a meaning and significance to define the disease in their experience about the diagnosis. Aim: Describe what it means for a person the phenomena of chronic disease, singularity and progression as a result of the multiple sclerosis diagnosis. Method: Qualitative methodology with phenomenological descriptive approach. It used intentional sampling up to thirteen participants. They were deeply interviewed with a half-organized outline and it carried out content analysis according to the Taylor-Bogdan method. Results: The chronic phenomenon in the hope in the research and the attack-relapse-degenerative tandem is a real threat. The patients need a truthful and positive information in the diagnosis. Conclusions: The chronic phenomenon is related to the previous capacity of being healthy with the feelings of sadness and impotence. They understand the progression like degeneration with the feelings of fear and uncertainty about the future. The multiple sclerosis is an unknown disease in the diagnosis and they classify it as strange or different for everyone.

Keywords : Diagnosis; Chronic disease; Multiple sclerosis; Life experiences; Qualitative investigation; Progression of the disease.