Iranian Patients with Chronic Hepatitis Struggle to Do Self-Care

Background: Hepatitis is a systemic infection which has many consequences on patients' life because of its chronic nature. Patient involvement in doing self-care is crucial for patients with chronic hepatitis in order to change their behaviours towards a healthy life style and to increase the own quality of life. The purpose of this study was to explore how chronic hepatitis patients to do self-care activities. Methods/Design: This present study was designed as a qualitative method. It is undertaken with patients living with hepatitis in a metropolitan city in the Iran. A purposive sampling method was used to recruit 18 participants. The study participants were at least 18 year-old. Data was collected through a semi-structured interview. Data analysis process performed on the texts which generate from verbatim transcripts of the participants interviews by using thematic content analysis. Results: The core-theme for the study was struggling to do self-care activities. There were three themes derived from data including seeking information with difficulties, negative perspectives of hepatitis among people and insufficient resources. Conclusion: Chronic hepatitis presents major challenges for patients with chronic hepatitis to do self-care activities. Providing appropriate information, changing negative perspective of society on hepatitis and provision sufficient facilities help Iranian patients with chronic hepatitis to do self-care activities appropriately.