PERCEPTION OF PATIENTS WITH INTESTINAL OSTOMY IN RELATION TO NUTRITIONAL AND LIFESTYLE CHANGES

ABSTRACT Objective: to describe the perceptions of people with intestinal ostomies on changes related to nutritional and lifestyle aspects. Method: exploratory and descriptive study, with a qualitative approach, performed with 17 patients with intestinal ostomies, who participate in a group of ostomized in a municipality in the countryside of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed based on the thematic analysis from which two categories emerged: “Change in the eating habits and nutritional profile of people with ostomy” and “living with the new”. Results: many changes that occur with the ostomized people, with body weight preferences and eating habits. There are daily situations that require adaptation to be experienced, among them: domestic tasks, sexuality, sports, work and leisure activities. The subjects who use the irrigation method presented autonomy in their daily life and see the ostomy as a new possibility in the face of the disease. Conclusion: to minimize the repercussions that occur in the lifestyle of ostomized people, there is evidence of the need for individualized nutritional and psychological follow-up and of extension in the guidelines of the professional teams that work with them, as well as the dissemination of the irrigation method to people with ostomies who are able to perform such procedure.