Lived Experience of Survivorship After Pediatric Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest From Survivor and Co-Survivor Perspectives: A Qualitative Phenomenological Research Study
Background: Annually, approximately 3,959 to 7,000 children experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest every year. For adolescents, 17.3% survivor until hospital discharge, translating to a minimum of 153 adolescents returning to their home and family contexts every year. These survivors have significant short-term and long-term risks to their physical, neurological, cognitive, social, and emotional domains. While strides have been made in understanding adult survivors’ and co-survivors’ experiences, there is an absence of published research that exclusively examines survivorship from the qualitative perspective of pediatric adolescent/young adult out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survivors and their parent co-survivors. Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand adolescent/ young adult survivors’ and their parent co-survivors’ lived experiences of survivorship after OHCA. Lines of Inquiry: The primary lines of inquiry focus on describing the sample and understanding their experiences of pediatric OHCA survivorship. The fourth exploratory line of inquiry was added to understand participants’ experiences of the transition between pediatric to young adult health care. Methods: This study employed a qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological design, informed by the social constructivist paradigm and Roy’s Adaptation Model. Purposive, snowball, and convenience sampling were utilized to select participants meeting the established inclusion criteria. Each participant engaged in two semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using the hermeneutic circle and inductive thematic approach. Findings: The study sample comprised nine participants. Five primary themes emerged. Survivorship (a) is a new normal, (b) means being there, (c) is a physical embodiment, (d) means letting go, and (e) is what meaning we want to give it. Implications: This study presented the critical role of development, adolescent-parent dynamics, and contextual factors in shaping the survivorship experience. Present among the continuum of care in survivorship, nurses are positioned to be facilitators for optimal health and well-being for the entire family unit. Further opportunities for research among a more sociodemographic diverse sample with varying stages of development as well as with sibling co-survivors were identified.
out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, pediatric, survivorship, qualitative, Pediatric Nursing
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