Post-discharge experiences with home-based medical aid services among medical aid recipients: a hermeneutic phenomenological study.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to explore the lived post-discharge experiences of medical aid recipients who received home-based medical aid services in Gangwon Province, South Korea, with particular attention to how they made sense of the transition from hospital to home and the meaning of service support in their everyday lives.

METHODS

A hermeneutic phenomenological design was employed. Twelve medical aid recipients in Gangwon Province, South Korea, who had been discharged and received home-based services for at least three months, were purposively recruited. One or two semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant, recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

RESULTS

Analysis identified six themes: (1) Seeking survival in unfamiliar daily life after discharge and re-experiencing one's existence; (2) Restoring autonomy and achieving physical independence through home-based medical aid services; (3) Re-experiencing the warmth of relationships and recognition of existence through care; (4) Repeated disconnection and the re-encounter with the sense of being "alone"; (5) Longing for continuity and stability in care; and (6) Accepting changed life and reframing the self and the system.

CONCLUSION

Home-based medical aid services helped vulnerable medical aid recipients sustain life at home by supporting daily independence, emotional reassurance, relational recognition, and participants' perceptions of quality of life. Nurses and case managers are central to ensuring continuity and stability of care, emphasizing the need for community-integrated approaches to reduce disparities and sustain life at home.