GÜRSOY, Ayla Karadeniz Technical University - Faculty of Health Sciences, Turkey , ERTÜRK, Melek Karadeniz Technical University - Institute of Health Sciences, Turkey , DEMİRCİ GÜNGÖRDÜ, Nuray Recep Tayyip Erdogan University - School of Health - Department of Fundamentals of Nursing, Turkey

INABILITY TO SPEAK: A QUALITATIVE STUDY ON THE EXPERIENCES OF PATIENTS WHO UNDERWENT PARTIAL LARYNGECTOMY

29870

Objective: This study aims to determine the experiences of patients with partial laryngectomy related inability to speak. Methods: The study followed purposeful sampling and saturation principles in which 10 patients with partial laryngectomy were included. The data were collected using “semi-structure interview method’’ and the data were analyzed by thematic analysis. Results: Three themes were determined: perception of inability to speak, problems caused by inability to speak and communication methods. The patients explained that the inability to speak was like vanishing and that it caused them to experience loss of self-confidence. They explained that they again felt the happiness and joy of living when they began to speak again and that they felt themselves empowered. Problems caused by inability to speak were related to the difficulty to express physical needs, experience of negative feelings and social isolation. It was found out that patients used writing most in order to communicate with others but they did not find written communication effective to express them. Conclusions: After laryngectomy, patients perceived inability to verbally speak as an important loss. Inability to speak causes inability to express their needs, experience of negative feelings and social isolation among the patients. Written communication method, used most to communicate, falls short in many aspects.

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Partial laryngectomy , verbal communication , psychosocial problems , nursing care

Journal Of Anatolia Nursing an‎d Health Sciences

188