Exploring Patients’ Lived Experiences and Meaning-Making in Pharmacological Treatment Contexts
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Abstract
Pharmacological treatments play a crucial role in managing chronic illnesses and complex medical conditions, yet their impact on patients’ subjective experiences remains underexplored. While biomedical research has advanced our understanding of drug efficacy and safety, fewer studies have investigated how individuals construct meaning around their treatment journeys within emotional, social, and cultural contexts. However, limited qualitative evidence exists on how pharmacological interventions shape patients’ identities, trust, and sense of control, leaving a critical knowledge gap regarding the lived experiences of those undergoing such treatments. Here, we apply an interpretative phenomenological approach (IPA) to explore how patients experience, interpret, and adapt to pharmacological treatment within their personal and sociocultural realities. Participants were recruited purposively to capture diverse experiences in terms of age, gender, diagnosis, and treatment duration, ensuring variation in perspectives. The final sample consisted of twelve participants (7 women and 5 men), aged between 30 and 65 years, all of whom had been undergoing long-term pharmacological treatment for chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and autoimmune disorders. Data were collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews and analyzed thematically to identify patterns of meaning-making and emotional responses.
The analysis revealed four overarching themes: navigating uncertainty related to side effects, reconstructing identity through chronic medication use, negotiating trust within physician-patient relationships, and seeking meaning and agency in treatment decisions. These findings demonstrate that pharmacological treatment involves far more than physiological outcomes; it encompasses complex psychological adjustments and sociocultural influences. The study contributes to a patient-centered understanding of pharmacological care and highlights the importance of integrating subjective experiences into clinical decision-making. By clarifying the rationale for sampling and participant characteristics, this study provides greater transparency regarding its scope and applicability. These insights offer a foundation for future research exploring cross-cultural perspectives and longitudinal patterns of meaning-making in pharmacological contexts.
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