L. Blundell1, M. Mathews2
1Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, 2Western University, London, ON

People who require an intestinal ostomy often experience changes in nutritional needs, diet, and participation in daily activities. Current ostomy-related dietetic literature is focused on the absorptive capacity of the digestive tract. To provide person-centred care, dietitians must consider the lived experience of people with ostomies (PWO).

The objective of this study was to describe the nutrition, food, and lifestyle-related concerns of PWO.

We extracted discussions from an online forum of PWO and conducted 10 semi-structured telephone interviews with PWO in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL). We used R software to extract forum data and recruited local participants through advertisements in NL ostomy clinics and support groups. Interview participants had intestinal ostomies and received all ostomy care in NL; these participants were asked to describe any impact their ostomy has had on their diet, mental health, relationships, and quality of life. We recorded and transcribed all interviews and thematically coded the data using two initial coders to observe recurring ideas and created a final coding template for each data set using Nvivo, a qualitative data analysis program.

PWO experienced challenges such as leakage, blockages, high-output, and changes in mental health, self-esteem, quality of life, and the ability to sleep. Participants developed self-management strategies over time such as using new ostomy products or making dietary changes through a trial-and-error approach, but some adopted unhealthy behaviours such as skipping meals to prevent output.

Person-centred dietetic counselling for PWO should be informed by physical, psychosocial, and behavioural aspects of health, and tailored to each individual. Future research should assess how dietitians can be supported to provide appropriate care for this population.

This study offers novel insight into the experiences of PWO which can inform dietetic counselling and related guidelines and resources to improve person-centred care.

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