title: Learning about oneself through others: experiences of a group-based patient education programme about irritable bowel syndrome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  People with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) often experience severe illness-related troubles in their everyday lives. Many persons also perceive their disease-related knowledge to be insufficient, and they feel dissatisfied with their inability to improve well-being. Previous research about patient education and IBS has emphasized biomedical outcomes of symptoms, health-promoting behaviours, coping and health-related quality of life, rather than people's experiences.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To explore people's experiences of participating in a multidisciplinary group-based patient education programme about IBS and of the influence of this programme on everyday life with illness.
  
  
  METHODS
  Focus group interviews were performed with 31 persons after their participation in the patient education programme. Interpretive description guided the inductive analysis of data. The study was approved by the local research ethics committee.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The analysis revealed four patterns; being part of a safe community, learning about oneself through others, understanding and controlling the body and illness as a whole, and being outside of the community. The pattern of learning about oneself through others can be described as a reciprocal activity of learning by listening to, telling and observing others. Being among similar others had created feelings among most of the focus group participants of being part of a safe community where taboo subjects related to IBS-symptoms could be outspoken. Understanding the body and illness as a whole had enhanced their ability to interpret bodily signals and to handle trouble some situations with greater self-confidence, and this regained their access to the social everyday world.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The combination of reciprocal sharing of experiences and the provision of professional scientific knowledge during the patient education programme together contributed to a growing readiness to improve well-being in everyday life, for most of the participating individuals. This was based on new understandings of the body and illness as a whole and of new abilities to make knowledge-based decisions about what strategies to use in overcoming illness-related troubles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Palliative Care Research, Ersta Sköndal University College, Stockholm, Sweden. cecilia.hakanson@esh.se
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Håkanson
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sahlberg-Blom
authors.forename: Britt-Marie
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Ternestedt
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nyhlin
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000458:organization & administration*; D055815:Young Adult