Body, participation and self transformations during and after in-patient stroke rehabilitation

Cathrine Arntzen,Torunn Hamran,Tove Borg

doi:10.1080/15017419.2013.868823

Abstract

This study explores stroke survivors' experience of being part of an institutional rehabilitation context and what it means for the immediate experience of discharge home. The aim is to develop a deeper understanding of how the dynamic phenomenon body, participation in everyday life and sense of self interrelates and changes through stroke survivors' movement in and between the two contexts and what this phenomenon means for stroke survivors' process of change and well-being in the early rehabilitation trajectory. Repeated, retrospective, in-depth interviews were conducted with nine persons living with moderate impairment after stroke and their closest relatives. Phenomenological and critical psychological concepts are used for analysing the data. Stroke survivors' experience indicates that their time as in-patients is important for their safety in the early juncture. Being part of an institutional rehabilitation context mobilizes stroke survivors' to optimize focus, energy and hope of physical recovery. ...

Highlights

Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability and the third cause of death in the Western world (Truelsen et al 2003)
This study explores stroke survivors’ experience of being part of an institutional rehabilitation context and the immediate effect this experience has on them after discharge and their return home
The aim is to develop a deeper understanding of how the dynamic phenomenon body, participation and self interrelates and changes through stroke survivors’ movement in and between the two contexts and what it means for stroke survivors’ process of change and well-being

Summary

Introduction

Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability and the third cause of death in the Western world (Truelsen et al 2003). Survivors’ with a moderate or severe stroke often transfer to an in-patient rehabilitation unit where they are treated by a multidisciplinary team. 80% of stroke survivors return home after an in-patient stay (Pringle, Hendry, and McLafferty 2008), and 50% of stroke survivors experience different degrees of long-term disabilities (Wiles et al 2004). Few studies have investigated the patients’ experience of rehabilitation in an inpatient unit (Olofssons, Andersson, and Carlberg 2005; Pound et al 1995; Röding et al 2003). One study, which explored people’s experience of hospital admission a short time

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