Unknown Stories: Biographies of Adults with Primary Lymphoedema

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When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", University of Southampton, name of the University School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination http://eprints.soton.ac.uk University of Southampton Unknown Stories: Biographies of Adults with Primary Lymphoedema Bernadette Waters A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Education School of Education 2009 (Word Count 45,987) ABSTRACT Lymphoedema is a chronic, debilitating and disfiguring medical condition caused by lymphatic insufficiency. This insufficiency may be characterised as primary, when there is congenital or hereditary cause; or secondary, when the cause is related to trauma or illness. It can lead to extreme swelling, most usually in the limbs, and creates increased susceptibility to recurrent, and sometimes life- threatening, infection. Physical, psychological and social effects of the condition can have a significant impact on an individual’s life and their levels of participation. Lymphoedema has attracted a very small amount of research activity by comparison to other chronic conditions and almost all research has focused on the views of medical experts and relates to their management of the condition. What qualitative research that exists concerning the experience of living with lymphoedema has focused primarily on women who survive breast cancer. The voice of individuals with primary lymphoedema has not been heard. This study investigated the life stories of eight people using an auto/biographical approach to illuminate their experiences of living with advanced and complicated primary lymphoedema. The specific aims of the study were to: record the stories of those who live with primary lymphoedema in order to better understand their lived experience; analyse those stories in the context of what is known about the condition and reflect on the management of lymphoedema; draw conclusions and make recommendations that might make a useful contribution to the lives of those who experience lymphoedema. Each person took part in an interview with the researcher in which they were invited to talk about their lives. These interviews were 2 transcribed and then reviewed by the participants. Narrative and biographical analysis was employed to explore the meaning in the data. Findings reveal the extensive impact that primary lymphoedema has on individual lives depriving participants of relationships, employment, leisure and self esteem. Although each person provided a unique and individual point of view of their life, there were certain common themes that emerged. Participants spoke of their difficulty in finding a correct diagnosis and access to effective treatment; the importance of information and education and the challenges of daily self management. Finally, recommendations are made to increase lymphoedema awareness amongst providers of healthcare and those who commission it; promote intensive and community-based treatment programmes; teach and monitor effective self-management techniques. 3 In memory of ‘Angela’ who died during the production of this study and who gave of her time to be a part of it ***** To ‘Joe’ who inspired my interest in lymphoedema ***** To Daniel Lambert whose story is so similar to those in this thesis 4 Acknowledgements I wish to thank: The participants for their generosity in co-operating with me on this study Gill Clarke for her inspiration and careful supervision LSN and BLS colleagues for helping me to recruit participants Colleagues in SHS and fellow EdD students for their encouragement and support Lyn Woodley for helping me to transcribe the interviews Stamford Museum in Stamford, Newarke Houses Museum in Leicester and the George Hotel in Stamford for their assistance in researching Daniel Lambert’s life 5 Contents Page No Abstract 2 Dedication 4 Acknowledgements 5 Contents 6 Chapter 1 – Introduction 9 - My story 9 - Structure of thesis and research aims 13 Chapter 2 – Review of Literature 16 - Introduction 16 - Lymphoedema: aetiology and incidence 17 - Physical and psychosocial difficulties resulting from lymphoedema 23 - Current interventions 30 - Self management and motivation 34 - Access to accurate information about lymphoedema 36 - Access to healthcare and rationing of services 39 - Education about lymphoedema amongst healthcare professions 42 Chapter 3 – Methodology and Methods 46 - Introduction 46 - Rationale for methodology 47 o Qualitative approaches 47 o Auto/biographical approaches 50 - Plan of investigation 56 o Aim of this research 56 o Study population 56 o Assumptions 56 o Limitations 56 6 o Ethics permission 57 o Sample selection and recruitment 57 o Data collection procedures 59 - Data analysis 61 - Ethical considerations 64 Chapter 4 – Profiles of participants 67 - Introduction 67 - Susan 67 - Belinda 70 - Gerry 72 - Philip 75 - Louise 78 - Angela 81 - Martyn 84 - Marie 86 Chapter 5 - Findings and Discussion 88 - Introduction 88 - Emergent themes 90 o Difficulty in accessing healthcare support and services 91 o Perceived inadequacy in levels of knowledge amongst medics and other healthcare professionals 108 o Psychological concerns 117 o Relationship issues 128 o Loss of career and leisure opportunities with resultant occupational deprivation 132 o Challenges in daily self management 140 Chapter 6 – Reflections, Recommendations and Conclusions 152 - Introduction 152 - Reflections 153 7 - Conclusions and recommendations 162 - Future research 165 Epilogue – Daniel Lambert 166 References 171 Appendices 190 - Appendix 1: Primary lymphoedema: lymphatics and the current management of the condition 190 - Appendix 2: Ethics approval 206 - Appendix 3: Insurance confirmation from University of Southampton & risk assessment 218 - Appendix 4: Recruitment to the study 222 - Appendix 5: Letters to participants and non-participant s 228 - Appendix 6: Information sheet and consent form 231 - Appendix 7: Information on Daniel Lambert 237 Figures Figure 1: Concerns of positivist research 48 Figure 2: Concerns of qualitative research 49 Figure 3: Erben’s stages in auto/biographical Research 63 Figure 4: Erben’s schema for the analysis of autobiographical data 63 Figure 5: Summary of information on participants 151 Photographs 19 8 Chapter 1 Introduction In common with probably every other doctoral student, I have struggled with questions related to the theory of knowledge (epistemology), the nature and essence of being (ontology) and the manner and means of researching (methodology). I have been particularly challenged to undertake reflexive analysis of my own role in the research I have conducted and to acknowledge its situated nature. As a consequence, this chapter intends to set the scene for the thesis by introducing my own story of ‘discovering’ lymphoedema through my work as an occupational therapist. In doing so, I explain my interest in the narratives of those individuals who live with lymphoedema and why I felt it important to hear their stories. The chapter closes by outlining the path that the research took and providing a summary of the chapters that follow. My Story of ‘Discovering’ Lymphoedema I had wanted to become part of the caring community since pre- teens and occupational therapy combined, for me, the ideal of working in a variety of settings with a wide range of people who faced physical and psychosocial challenges related to ill-health and trauma, mental health problems and disability. My ambition was not to care for these people, in the sense of looking after them as a nurse might, but to work alongside them to create a sense of independence, or self reliance, so that they could identify and overcome their obstacles and fears and live the lives that were important to them. In this sense, occupational therapy is closer to social work than other health professions. 9 When I was a student occupational therapist in 1978, I was placed for three months into the hand therapy unit of a physical rehabilitation service at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) in Stanmore, North London. As the name implies, this was a resolutely physically orientated hospital but one which received patients with interesting or complex cases from all around the country. At that time, there was little attention paid to the psychological impact of the illnesses or disabilities that patients experienced apart, perhaps, from within the occupational therapy unit where I was placed. Even there, the skills of working in mental health (which every qualified occupational therapist would have acquired as part of the basic training) were secondary to the requirements of physical rehabilitation. There were no formalised counselling sessions nor any input from clinical psychologists or psychiatrists. When I arrived, I had just spent the previous three months in a therapeutic community (mental health) setting. This was a day hospital

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