Purpose: Body image changes are common among patients living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) because of the illness and related treatments. Currently, there is little known about how those patients experience and perceive their altered body image in the literature. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of body image changes in patients with IBD in China and to describe how those changes influence patients’ perception of body and self. Methods: This study used a descriptive qualitative approach. A total of 16 participants from three tertiary hospitals in southeast China were recruited through purposive sampling combined with maximum variation strategy. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and analyzed using conventional content analysis method. Results: The following six themes were extracted: (1) “being a constrained person,” (2) “being a flawed person,” (3) “being a disliked person,” (4) “being an alienated person,” (5) “being a reconciled person,” and (6) “being a blessed person.” Conclusion With the diagnosis of IBD and its side effects of treatments, patients’ life changed significantly and they were struggling to reinterpret their body and self. As a result, negative self-evaluations and/ or positive self-evaluations towards themselves generated. Further studies are required to explore the underlying mechanism and related influencing factors about how those different images were produced.

Purpose: Body image changes are common among patients living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) because of the illness and related treatments. Currently, there is little known about how those patients experience and perceive their altered body image in the literature. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of body image changes in patients with IBD in China and to describe how those changes influence patients’ perception of body and self. Methods: This study used a descriptive qualitative approach. A total of 16 participants from three tertiary hospitals in southeast China were recruited through purposive sampling combined with maximum variation strategy. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and analyzed using conventional content analysis method. Results: The following six themes were extracted: (1) “being a constrained person,” (2) “being a flawed person,” (3) “being a disliked person,” (4) “being an alienated person,” (5) “being a reconciled person,” and (6) “being a blessed person.” Conclusion With the diagnosis of IBD and its side effects of treatments, patients’ life changed significantly and they were struggling to reinterpret their body and self. As a result, negative self-evaluations and/ or positive self-evaluations towards themselves generated. Further studies are required to explore the underlying mechanism and related influencing factors about how those different images were produced.

Objective:To explore the stigma of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients, to understand patients' stigma experience and its influences so as to provide a theoretical basis for medical staff to carry out targeted psychological nursing.Methods:From March 2017 to July 2019, we selected 16 IBD inpatients and outpatients of Gastroenterology Department in three ClassⅢ Grade A hospitals of Zhejiang Province as subjects by purposive sampling. The face-to-face semi-structured interview was used to patients with the method of descriptive qualitative study, and the conventional content analysis was used to analyze data.Results:A total of four themes on stigma experience of IBD patients were extracted, perceived stigma, enacted stigma, internalized stigma and influential factors of stigma.Conclusions:Most IBD patients are with stigma after diagnosis influenced by disease, treatment, mental state, social customs and culture which has different expression forms and degrees. Medical staff should provide individualized care and carry out feasible coping strategies for patients according to their stigma experience.

As the constant development of qualitative research in China, especially phenomenology, interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) has gained some attention among nursing staff in recent years. Although there has been some preliminary practice, several issues also emerge, including misunderstanding of IPA, research progress not rigorous enough and research reporting not transparent enough, low quality of data analysis, and insufficient raw data to support. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the current situation and existing problems of the application of IPA, and provide learning cases and theoretical knowledge for reference, so as to enhance the understanding of IPA and research process among Chinese nursing staffs. Besides, this study will also promote the positive development and appropriate practice of IPA in nursing filed in China.