Narrative of Southeastern Mexican patients with osteoarthritis: a focus group interview study

Abstract

Narrative Medicine serves to accompanying the patient through the experience of his/her illness, listening to his/her story in a simplified therapeutic role. The aim of this interview-based study was to explore in a group of patients with OA from South-Eastern Mexico the content of their narratives regarding their illness.

Methods: Eight patients with OA participated in five focus group interviews that were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. The narrative was analyzed considering the number of mentions and theoretical saturation with three dimensions: pain, stiffness and functional capacity.

Results: Pain was associated with quality of life, religiosity and social interactions. Regarding stiffness and functional capacity, participants expressed the appraisal of illness as an inevitable deterioration and a rather passive coping response.

Conclusions: Narrative-based evidence on how patients with OA perceive and manage their illness underscore health as a concept where the physical and psychological dimensions are in an ongoing interaction; thus, calling for more sensitivity from the medical community and for a comprehensive interdisciplinary treatment.