Younger Adults and the Coping of Chronic Disease - Community Health Nursing as A Flexible Approach to Care

Abstract

Background: Dealing with chronic illness is a major challenge for patients. For younger adults, this means a major break in life but there are few suitable offers for this target group. Good integration of the disease into life is the starting point for well-being and quality of life. Community health nurses (CHNs) have the competency to help younger adults cope with their illness. Individualized care requires knowledge of what coping strategies the patient has established over a lifetime. Therefore, an analysis of the coping strategies of younger adults with chronic disease seems worthwhile. Aim: This study aims to develop a care offer by a CHN that is specifically oriented towards the needs of people in health-disadvantaged neighborhoods and the associated difficult access to health care. Methods: The narrative-biographical interview method was used to gain insight into the coping strategies of younger adults with chronic illness. Grounded theory methodology was used to analyze the interviews. Results: A total of n=12 interviews were conducted with younger adults with a chronic or long-term illness. From these, six categories of coping strategies were identified. These are: (re)establishing the ability to act, illness as a focus in life, dealing with emotions, dealing with the outside and dealing with the inside, and the search for meaning. Conclusion: The analysis of the different coping strategies provides the basis for care that fits the individual needs of young adult patients. The CHN concept responds flexibly to patients’ needs. Therefore, it can be assumed that it also responds individually to the forms of coping of the six categories. It can therefore be expected that CHN is suitable for the care of young adults with chronic diseases. There are numerous points of contact for the category that (re)establish the ability to act.