Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurological autoimmune disease. The disease affects most young people between 20-40 years of age, mainly women. There are about 2.5 million people worldwide are affected by MS. The most common symptoms that a patient with MS suffers from are the fatigue (tiredness), pain, depression, sleep disturbance, balance disorder, dizziness, palsies (paralysis) and heat intolerance. There are also other physical and mental dysfunctions. Aim: The purpose of this study was to describe patients' experiences of MS disease symptoms and the nurse's possible role in disease progression. Method: A literature study based on nine scientific articles. Articles were searched in the databases CINAHL and PubMed in the fall 2015th. Results: This study showed how the experiences of the symptoms for patients with MS affected their health, social life and quality of life in a negative way. The study also showed that nurses have an important informative, supportive and integrated role for the patient and family, during the course of the disease. Conclusions: MS disease affects the sufferer's life in a negative way, both physically and mentally. The disease usually means that the patient is facing uncertain and unpredictable future, and suffers unpleasant symptoms. These experiences involve not only a part of the body but the whole person. The assistance of the care and especially the nurse is of great importance to facilitate the patient's situation and help the patient to preserve their quality of life as good as possible. The nurses’ informative and caring role is a great support to patients with MS. Better understanding of patients' experience can be valuable for a better communication and care.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-275794 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Essa, Nidal |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för folkhälso- och vårdvetenskap |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess, info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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