Process of adaptation to life with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD)

Introduction. Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), among the two of the most common cases: Colitis Ulcerosa (CU) and Crohn’s Disease (CD), are the group of chronic inflammatory diseases. Despite the huge advance in the gastroenterology science, intensification periods give the medical experts a lot of troubles when it comes to control symptoms which are bothering the patients.

Aim. The main aim of the study was to define the degree of the acceptance by the respondents and qualification which factors have influence to this process.

Material and methods. To the test was taken a group of 100 people from 19 years old, where 60 people suffer from Crohn Disease, 35 from CU and 5 from another inflammatory bowel disease. Data was collected using a scale acceptance of the AIS disease (The Acceptance of Illness Scale) and a questionnaire of our own design. Data was analysed using non-parametric tests Pearson chi2.

Results. The research group was dominated by young people. The average age for the whole group was about 34.69. The average AIS scale score was 22.79 for the whole group, which indicates a medium level of acceptance of the disease by the survey respondents.

Conclusions. The research shows that people with IBD have a medium level of disease acceptation and it’s lower in the group of people with Crohn Disease than with CU. The people having children or partner the much better accommodate to disease as a result of receiving support from them.

Nursing Topics 2015; 23 (1): 7–12