Body image of patients with a permanent stoma

Abstract

The aim of this project would be to explore how Maltese patients with a permanent stoma view their body image after major surgery. The aim was achieved by the conduction of a small-scale, non- experimental, exploratory, descriptive research study. The perceptions of a purposive sample of ten local patients with a stoma were obtained through semi-structured interviews that were carried out either at the stoma clinic at a local hospital or in the participants' own homes. The ten themes identified through content analysis were the participants' health status following surgery, participants' feelings, their perceived changes in their body image, psychological effects that the stoma brought, acceptance of the stoma, changes brought about in their way of life, effect on the type of clothes they wear, managing to look after their stoma, effect on the patient's interpersonal relationships and participants' views about support given to them following surgery. The findings reveal that patients with a stoma become aware of changes in their bodies particularly in appearance at an early stage after the operation. However for these individuals a change in body image was not given much importance as their health status. Every individual thinks that although the stoma brought about some changes, it saved their life. Furthermore the respondents in this study seemed to have coped well after their surgery. This may be attributed to the adoption of good coping mechanisms and the availability of a social support network of family, relatives and friends but mainly the presence of the stoma nurse who was of great support to these individuals.