Emotional processes, interpersonal relationships and personal experiences in irritable Bowel Syndrome: A qualitative research example

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a chronic functional bowel disorder that cause problems like diarrhea, constipation, increased gastrointestinal motility, distention and stomach pain and affect people's daily and social life negatively. The disorder is seen at 10% of general population with a dominance in women. Research revealed that IBS is a biopsychosocial disorder emerged by the interaction of genetic, physiological, psychological, social and cultural factors. Lack of knowledge in the literature about the exact etiological origin and the cure for IBS and the affets of the disorder on individual's life has made this field an increasing interest to conduct research. Hovewer, the research handle the experience of the illness in Western countries for the most part and there is a paucity in research revealed IBS patients' experiences in Asian and Eastern countries. Also it was seen that there is no qualitative research about the illness experiences of İBS patients conducted in Turkey. With this respect, this research aims to understand what is the effect of IBS in individuals' daily life, how the individuals' emotional and social life are affected by the disorder and which coping mechanisms this people use to deal with the disorder. This research is the first qualitative study in Turkey conducted to reveal the experiences of IBS patients with regard to disorder. Detailed online interviews were carried out as a technique of qualitative research with ten female patients who are diagnosed with IBS and the results were analyzed by the thematic analysis. For the analysis, MAXQDA qualitative research program was used. The themes emerged from the study was interpreted in scope of "Life Experiences Dimension", "Religious and Spiritual Life Dimension", "Social and Cultural Dimension", "Emotional Dimension", "Observational and Cognitive Dimension" and "Coping Dimension" main themes. Findings of the research discussed and interpreted in light of the literature.