Concerns of patients with inflammatory bowel disease - A review of emerging themes

Idiopathic, chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) refers to two diseases -ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). Despite an abundant lite rature discussing the pathophysiology and treatment of these diseases, litt le if any empirical studies have focused on patients' subjective experience s with their diseases. The purpose of this paper was to identify and discus s the concerns of individuals with IBD and to suggest that the integration of concerns in clinical management is necessary for a comprehensive underst anding of these chronic and debilitating diseases. In addition, case studie s were included to highlight the concerns of people with IBD. Our review of the literature identified eight categories of concerns for individuals wit h IBD. They included loss of energy, loss of control, body image, isolation and fear, not reaching full potential, feeling dirty, and lack of informat ion from the medical community. In conclusion, we argue that the efficacy o f treatment for IBD would be greatly improved if psychosocial issues were t o be integrated into treatment protocols.