Discovering of the components of a lifestyle based educational package for patients with ulcerative colitis- A Phenomenological Study

Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory chronic disease. The purpose of this study was to explore the components of the lifestyle in patients with ulcerative colitis in order to develop a particular educational package for them. The study was a phenomenological qualitative research with in-depth interviews. The participants were recruited (n=26) using purposeful sampling from the IBD outpatient clinic affiliated to Isfahan University of Medical Sciences and the private office. The sampling was done in such a way to encompass greatest variation in diagnosis and duration of UC, age, and sex. A total of 26 UC patients (with mean±SD age of 39.41 ± 11.8, (57.6%) graduated from university, (84.4%) married, mean duration of disease=7.56y, and mean age of disease=31.29y) were included in the study. Using seven-step Colaizzi method, data was summarized in four main concepts and ninecomponents. With the discovery of nine main components in relation to lifestyle and their impact on UC disease, a lifestyle-based educational package can be developed for UC patients. Some of the discovered components in this study did not get enough attention in the previous studies.