From Diagnosis to Adaptation: Meaning‐Making Throughout the Illness Experience of Patients With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension—A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study

Aim To explore the illness experience and meaning‐making of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension from diagnosis to adaptation. Design A qualitative study using a Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenological design. Methods From July to December 2025, purposive sampling recruited 12 adults with PAH from a teaching hospital in northern Taiwan. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted, with data collection and analysis occurring concurrently. Transcripts were read, compared, and interpreted through the hermeneutic circle, supported by field notes and reflexive notes. Results Six interrelated themes and 15 categories were identified: (1) Cycles of hope and disappointment; (2) Physical decline and disruption to daily life after disease onset; (3) Waiting on the edge of collapse; (4) Information gaps and unmet information needs; (5) Rediscovering possibilities for living; and (6) Finding a place in life within the limits of the disease. Patients experienced diagnostic delays, physical decline, treatment waiting, and information gaps. As treatment stabilised, they shifted from hoping to return to pre‐illness lives to adjusting expectations, roles, and attitudes and engaging in disease management. Adaptation was an ongoing process. Conclusion Participants' retrospective accounts suggest that adaptation to PAH involves more than accepting the illness. Patients continuously reinterpret the illness, themselves, and their future amid physical and daily‐life changes. Family, peers, and healthcare professionals support hope and adaptation. Implications for the Profession and/or Patient Care Care for pulmonary arterial hypertension should extend beyond disease control and symptom management. Nurses can support patients through case management, information, and family and peer support across illness stages. Impact This study highlights illness adaptation as a continuous process of adjusting perspectives on illness, self, and future, suggesting that care for PHA should address patients' long‐term lives alongside disease management. Reporting Method This study was reported in accordance with the COREQ guidelines. Patient or Public Contribution No patient or public contribution.