ORIGINAL ARTICLE ORIGINAL ARTICLE ORIGINAL ARTICLE ZKOUMÁNÍ LIMITŮ ŽIVOTNÍHO STYLU JEDINCŮ S CHRONICKÝM ONEMOCNĚNÍM (První zkušenosti s metodikou kvalitativního výzkumu v ošetřovatelství) Examination of lifestyle in individuals suffering from chronic diseases (First experience with method of qualitative research in nursing) Jan Chrastina 1 , Kateřina Ivanová 2 , Šárka Ježorská 1 , Sylva Bártlová 3 1 Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci, Fakulta zdravotnických věd, Ústav společenských a humanitních věd 2 Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci, Lékařská fakulta, Ústav sociálního lékařství 3 Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích, Zdravotně sociální fakulta, katedra ošetřovatelství a porodní asistence Summary The main target of the work was to describe a research method in the field of nursing focused on the identification and description of limits of the style of life in individuals suffering from chronic diseases and demonstrate its verification in a pilot project. The conceptualisation of the lifestyle as a construct of a diseased individual based (not only) on his/her perception of the reality of everyday events, made it possible to take advantage of using a specific method of the qualitative approach. It is based on the methodological triangulation and employs three techniques of the data collection as follows: the life curve and life story, the Cantril ladder, and deep semi‐ structured interviews. The method was verified in a pilot research project in individuals with three types of chronic diseases: multiple sclerosis, diabetes mellitus and selected psychiatric disorder – depression. The pilot research served as a starting point for a longitudinal research examination, which will deal with the target group of persons suffering from multiple sclerosis. The pilot research identified limits of the lifestyle in a respondent (woman) having multiple sclerosis, which exerted, based on her own statement, direct relationships to her chronic disease: “failures of vision, presence of diseases, particularly hypertension, diagnosis – insecurity, loss of job (on losing the disability pension), disorders of the gait and falls, vertigo, tiredness, sleeping disorders due to frequent nocturnal micturition, failures of short‐term and intermediate‐term memory and failures of the fine motoricity and motorgraphic capacity”. The whole research project was supported by research grants, and the process of the data accumulation is still under way. The text presented her comprises mainly the research method together with a description of the pilot project outcome. Keywords: lifestyle – chronic disease – limits – qualitative research – methodological triangulation – nursing diagnoses Souhrn Hlavním cílem práce bylo popsat metodiku výzkumu v ošetřovatelství zaměřenou na identifikaci a deskripci limitů životního stylu jedinců s chronickými onemocněními a ukázat její ověření 298 Submitted: 2011‐09‐12 ▪ Accepted: 2012‐08‐24 ▪ Published online: 2012‐09‐27 KONTAKT: 14/3: 298–314 ▪ ISSN 1212‐4117 (Print) ▪ ISSN 1804‐7122 (Online) OŠETŘOVATELSTVÍ