The evaluation of patients adaptation to living with a colostomy

Introduction : Stoma surgery is usually a hard to accept, critical event for an individual, evoking the feeling of disability. Having a colostomy may hamper everyday activity as it influences the functioning of the patient in every sphere of life. The aim of this work was to evaluate the adaptation of patients to the life with colostomy.

Material and methods : The respondents are participants in the meetings of POL-ILKO association located in Dr. J. Biziel Provincial Hospital in Bydgoszcz, with the department in Włocławek. In total, the research was conducted in a group of 49 individuals using a questionnaire designed by the authors.

Results and conclusions : Typically, it is women who participate in meetings organised by stoma associations. They also eat meals, and report for medical examination more regularly than men.

The respondents who have been having a stoma for more than a year tend to present the same attitude towards their own appearance as they had before the surgery than these respondents, who have been having a stoma for a shorter period of time; they also attend meetings of the patients with stoma more often, and avoid food products rich in preservatives. On the other hand, patients who have been having a stoma for less than a year point to problems with handling and changing of stoma pouches.

The respondents attending meetings for stoma patients obey chosen health behaviours more often and find maintaining their stoma less difficult.

Along with the increase in the knowledge about the colostomy comes a decrease in difficulty in carrying out nursing activities associated with it.

Stoma surgery influences nearly half of the respondents’ social contacts, making them somewhat to significantly more difficult. As a consequence, 22.4% of the responders have limited their interpersonal relations. Similarly, for nearly half of the respondents sexual interest is lower than before the surgery. Nearly half of the patients’ attitude towards their own appearance has decreased significantly. Nevertheless, 51% of the respondents never or very seldom consider themselves inferior. The respondents show a fairly high level of health behaviour, especially in regards to outdoor activities, avoiding spicy, fat, and distending meals, heating regularly, abiding by medical advice and avoiding stimulants. The majority of the respondents did not have to give up their interests, 57.1% of them have stated that stoma surgery has limited their everyday functioning only moderately.