A systematic review of qualitative research into people's experiences of living with venous leg ulcers

Abstract

The themes identified in this review should be considered by professionals providing services, care and treatment for venous leg ulcer patients and in the selection, or development, of patient-reported outcome measures for use with this population.

Mixed methods study to develop the content validity and the conceptual framework of the electronic patient-reported outcome measure for vascular conditions

“…4-8 3. Developing the items within each section of ePAQ-VAS based on qualitative systematic reviews [9][10][11][12] and a primary qualitative study. 13…”

Translation, cross‐cultural adaptation and validation of the “Cardiff wound impact schedule,” a wound‐specific quality of life instrument, to the native Spanish of Mexican patients

“…Wound healing involves a number of complex processes that can occur over a long period of time, and the treatment may be quite difficult. These chronic wounds provoke additional complications such as lack of mobility, pain, exudate and odour . Emotional stress due to fear of recurrence of ulceration, impaired body image, social isolation, increased family tensions, restrictions in employment and repeated bouts of infection and potential life‐long morbidity exaggerates the negative influences of the wounds on these patients .…”

Quality of life related to clinical aspects in people with chronic wound

“…In a study that evaluated the health-related QoL and its predictive factors for people with chronic wounds in specialized outpatient treatment, it was pointed out that the increase in pain was associated with a decrease in overall QLI (7)(8) . A systematic qualitative research review of the experiences of people living with venous leg ulcers identified that pain related to wound and treatment, as well as odor and exudate characteristics, appeared to have direct negative effects on their QoL perception, with additional and cumulative effects on sleep, mobility and mood (18) . These data show that the different evaluation domains of QoL differently influence people with chronic wounds.…”

“…The results demonstrated an improvement in QoL and functional capacity after the intervention, especially for providing quick and lasting reduction in pain. Other studies have demonstrated that factors related to the health domain, including vitality (20) , functional capacity (21) , fatigue, sleep disorder, depression, nutritional changes, odor, pruritus, exudation (20) , and pain (7,18) frequently impair the QoL of people with a wound, particularly the clinical pain parameter.…”

“…It should also be noted that the differentiated etiology of the lesions in this study was not a factor that altered the QoL among the interviewees. It is known that venous wounds account for about 80% of chronic wounds, and the associated symptoms and treatments have an effect on QoL related to the health domain (18) . The results of the present study corroborate the data showing greater prevalence of the venous etiology, however the QLI of the people with the referred complaint did not differ in relation to the people with other types of wounds.…”