Aim. To describe and understand the meaning of the experience of living with a spouse who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Background. Living with a spouse with a chronic illness may have a profound effect on women’s lives since society expects families, and especially women, to care for the chronically ill. The family member providing care and support is usually the wife.
Design. This study investigated the wife’s experience of living with a husband’s chronic illness. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used to describe and understand the experience of women living with a spouse who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to determine the meaning this experience has for their lives.
Methods. In‐depth interviews were conducted with ten women whose husbands had mild to severe obstructive lung disease. Thematic analysis was based on interpretive methods. Data were collected in 1997.
Results. The findings are presented as two clusters, living with everyday illness and surviving the illness. Everyday illness includes monitoring, regulating activity, integrating illness effects, and managing technologies. Surviving the illness includes riding the roller coaster, keep on going, garnering support and finding explanations.
Conclusions. The spouse’s illness had a major influence on these women’s lives, and the effects are very complex and interwoven with one another.
Relevance to clinical practice. Health professionals can have a major role in assisting women to both live with the everyday illness and to survive its effects. Women were eager to tell their stories. Health professionals can help women deal with the experience by forming support groups and by asking the ‘How can I help?’ question more often and then actively listening to expressed concerns. Supporting women in their monitoring and regulating role is especially critical.