self-care recommendations of middle-aged and older adults with sickle cell disease自我保健的建议与镰状细胞病的中年和老年人.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Nursing Research and Practice Volume 2011, Article ID 270594, 5 pages doi:10.1155/2011/270594 Clinical Study Self-Care Recommendations of Middle-Aged and Older Adults with Sickle Cell Disease Coretta M. Jenerette, Cheryl Brewer, and Ashley N. Leak School of Nursing, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 7460, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7460, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Coretta M. Jenerette, coretta.jenerette@ Received 31 March 2011; Revised 2 July 2011; Accepted 4 July 2011 Academic Editor: Patrick Callaghan Copyright © 2011 Coretta M. Jenerette et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Self-care management is an important part of living with a chronic illness. Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a chronic disease with acute, painful exacerbations that often results in a shortened life expectancy. Some middle-aged and older adults with SCD lived with the disease prior to having a diagnosis and without modern advances. The purpose of this study is to share the self-care recommendations of middle-aged and older adults with SCD. Using descriptive qualitative methods, data were gathered through semistructured interviews from 11 individuals living with SCD, including 6 women and 5 men. Self-care recommendations themes included physiological, psychological, and provider-related. The self-care recommendations may be seen as an additional resource or “words of wisdom” for younger adults with SCD who can use the recommendations to better manage their own disease. Additionally, providers may be able to use these recommendations to inform their practi