Purpose: This study aimed to investigate and improve understanding of the experiences of patients and their carers during the first month at home following discharge from hospital, thereby enhancing appropriate care from a more informed perspective.
Method: In-depth interviews and self-report diaries were used to capture data from 12 patient/carer dyads. Four survivors with marked communication problems were included in this number, two requiring the use of pictures and diagrams to express their views. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to capture and interpret survivor and carer experiences.
Findings: Three superordinate themes were derived from the data. Stroke survivors and their carers described the first month at home as a very dynamic time, recounting a process that involved revisioning (re-examining their identity and the reality of their new situation, including an awareness of their own mortality), reconnecting (with important relationships and previous activities) and revisiting (their past lives, and the stroke event and hospital experience). These three activities assisted in making and finding sense in their new situation; participants' vision of their lives was revised and revisited as they attempted to reconnect with as much of their past selves and past activities as possible.
Conclusions: This study contributes to understandings through in-depth individual accounts of the psychosocial transition of returning home. Details of how people make sense of their altered situation can make a valuable contribution to research, and the knowledge base for care provision. Implications for Rehabilitation Supporting people to revision their future can assist with psychosocial transition following a stroke. Assisting patients to reconnect and reintegrate in a way that is meaningful to them is an important part of the rehabilitation support that can be offered by professionals, and can be informed by awareness of their vision of what the future may now hold. Offering people the opportunity to reflect on what has occurred, either verbally or in the form of a diary, can assist adjustment and help people to make sense of their changed situation.