Living Within Limits: Unpleasant Experiences From the Perspective of Patients After Cardiac Surgery, a Content Analysis Study

Background: cardio vascular diseases (cvds) are the main cause of death around the world and coronary artery bypass grafting (cabg) has proven to be the most effective treatment for ischemic coronary heart diseases when other treatments are ineffective. despite the perceived improvement in the health of patients undergoing cabg, there are problems that result from operations after they are discharged from hospital. provision of information is an integral part of most psychological interventions. having a clearer understanding of patients’ experiences will be helpful to healthcare workers with respect to patients’ care and education planning. caring science places more attention on the patient's everyday life from his/her perspective. most of the studies conducted in iran used a quantitative method or measured care needs according to pre-defined criteria..objectives: the aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of patients who have undergone cardiac surgery, in order to obtain a deeper understanding of what they experienced and what those who provide care for these patients experienced..patients and methods: a qualitative design, using a content analysis approach, was adapted to collect the data and analyze the experiences of 18 patients after cardiac surgery through a purposive sampling strategy. after the selection of the participants, semi structured interviews were held in order to collect the data. scientific accuracy, and rigor of the data and research ethics were respected..results: the data analysis revealed three main themes and 11 subthemes, categorized as conceptual and abstract, based on their nature: concern of going out therapeutic framework (fear of the recurrence of heart attack, fear of performing more activities than permitted, fear of taking journeys, fear of mass communication)/tired of living within the confines of the therapeutic framework (need to take various medications, dietary restrictions, limitations in function, family fatigue)/living between boundaries (feeling caught between wanting to accept or reject treatment, feeling caught between the sadness of having the disease and the joy of it not getting worse, feeling caught between knowing and not knowing)..conclusions: patients’ experiences after cardiac surgery indicated the need for the consideration of holistic care and supportive intervention programs after surgery to promote recovery and a better quality of life following cardiac surgery..