Quality of life and human becoming for persons with end-stage cardiac disease

Abstract

The Parse research method of phenomenology was used to explore the universal lived experience of quality of life for end-stage cardiac patients. Four individuals with terminal cardiovascular disease, who were enrolled in hospice, participated in a dialogical engagement. The audio taped dialogical engagements were analyzed utilizing Parse's procedure of extraction-synthesis. Three core concepts emerged to formulate a structure of the lived experience of quality of life. The concepts identified were: Coherence with others creates meaning; Integration of life essences from past-present-future; and Struggling with limitation-limitlessness emerges transformation. The structure was linked to the Human Becoming Theory and beyond through a process of heuristic interpretation. The findings from the study produced new knowledge and understanding regarding the human experience of quality of life.