Content analysis of identity challenges in patients with haemophilia: A qualitative study.
Roya Dolatkhah, Reza Shabanloei, Hossein Ebrahimi and 1 others
PMID 33405396WHAT IT FOUND
Male patients with haemophilia described four fears: rejection, losing social roles, stigma, and marriage breakdown.
They hid the disease, felt burdensome at work and home, and worried bleeding and factor concentrates would damage relationships.
Key findings
01Participants' responses were categorized into four main categories: fear of rejection, fear of losing social roles, fear of stigma and discrimination, and fear of marriage breakdown.
02Participants preferred hiding haemophilia, and said leaving work or home to receive factor concentrates irritated colleagues and family.
03Physical constraints and treatment needs disrupted social and family roles, and participants linked job loss to loss of identity.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study included only 14 men with severe haemophilia A, all aged 18-50 and recruited from a clinic in Tabriz, so themes may not fit women, younger patients, milder disease or other settings. It did not test any nursing, psychological or physical treatment, so it cannot show what improves identity or quality of life. Findings rely on patients' self-reported experiences; family members, colleagues and healthcare staff were not interviewed. The sample was purposive and small, so transferability is limited.
Declared interests
The supplied text reports institutional research support from the Hematology and Oncology Research Center (Code: 90/14:90/9/23) and ethics approval (ID: 3066:90/11/6). It does not report a commercial sponsor or author financial conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as evidence that a nursing or psychosocial programme works. This was a qualitative interview study of 14 men in a single Iranian clinic, so it describes experience, not treatment effect.