The Relations among Self-care, Symptom Experiences, and Disease Status of the Patient with Liver Cirrhosis

간경변증 환자의 자가간호수행과 증상경험 및 질병상태와의 관계

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the degree of self-care, symptom experience and disease state among the patients with liver cirrhosis and to identify its correlation. Methods: The subjects were 220 patients with liver cirrhosis who were treated in D-university hospital in Busan. The instruments used for study were the self-care inventory, the symptom experience inventory and modified childpugh classification scale. Results: The average points of the patient's self-care performance, symptom experience, and disease status were 3.67, 29.10 and 6.12 respectively. Their self care was negatively correlated to symptom experience, and symptom experience was positively correlated to disease state. Conclusion: This research findings suggested that active self-care by patients with liver cirrhosis might contribute to reduce various symptoms they can undergo and to prevent aggravation of disease state. Therefore, patients with liver cirrhosis have to carry out self care actively in daily life and discreet nursing intervention should be offered to facilitate their self-care.