Existential perception of people living with chronic venous ulcers: a phenomenological study

Aims: to comprehend how people who live with chronic venous ulcers perceive their existence towards these lesions; to describe and analyse, from the perspective of Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology, how these people comprehend their own existence. Method: this is a study of a qualitative approach using a descriptive phenomenological method. Study setting: Outpatient Wound Healing Centre of the teaching hospital Antônio Pedro, located in the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro. Study subjects: adults and elderly who live with chronic venous ulcers and who are currently in outpatient treatment. For data collection, it will be used the Protocol I B Adapted Evaluation of patients with venous ulcers (registered in PROAP/UFF); the script of a phenomenological interview and the record of the expressions related to the narrative of the body. Data will be collected according to the phenomenological method proposed by Amedeo Giorgi and discourse analysis will be implemented based on the framework of Merleau-Ponty. Descriptors: Adults; Aged; Varicose Ulcer; Perception.