Patients with venous ulcers: Biopsychosocial characteristics

Graziela Souza Nogueira, Carla

Abstract

To describe the biopsychosocial profile of patients with venous ulcers treated at the Angiology and Vascular Surgery Clinic, Hospital de Base in São José do Rio Preto. Thirty patients completed a semi‐structured interview to identify: duration of the disease, activities no longer performed, difficulties encountered during treatment, hard‐to‐follow medical guidelines and the amount of social support they received. Most participants were women (70%). The ages of the participants ranged between 46 and 72 years (mean = 56.5), participants were predominantly married (61.9% of women, 44.5% of men), Catholics (71.44% of women, 67.7% of men) and had incomplete elementary schooling (81% of women, 55.5% of men). The duration of the disease for a large number of participants was over 10 years (42.2% of women, 66.7% of men), they had problems in their social lives (81% of women, 88.9% of men), difficulty to rest (80.95% of women, 88.9% of men) and had support from their families (81% of women, 88.9% of men). Data were found compatible with the literature thereby demonstrating the negative impact of venous ulcers in the lives of sufferers. Venous ulcers interfere in the overall functioning (biopsychosocial) of patients under treatment.