Women’s lived experience of well-being in everyday life when living with a stress-related illness

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The aim of the study was to describe how women with stress-related illness experience well-being in everyday life.

Methods: The study was based on a reflective lifeworld research (RLR) approach and the methodological principles of openness, flexibility and bridling. Twelve women, aged 27–54 years, diagnosed with stress-related illness were included. Data were collected with lifeworld interviews based on photographs taken by the women relating to well-being in everyday life. The data were analysed for meaning.

Results: Well-being emerged in situations where women could feel an unconditional beingness. This entails not having demands on oneself and includes some form of freedom from having to perform. The surroundings and supportive environments are important for this unconditional beingness to be present. In order to feel well-being in everyday life, the women need to balance their energy and find helpful tools that can achieve a balance in everyday life.

Conclusions: Healthcare staff need to understand the importance of unconditional beingness in supportive environments for patients living with stress-related illness in order to support their health and well-being. It is also important to support patients in finding helpful tools that can aid them to achieve a balance in everyday life.

KEYWORDS:

• Exhaustion disorder
• health
• interviews
• mental health
• photographs
• primary healthcare
• reflective lifeworld research
• stress-related illness
• well-being

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the staff, who recruited the patients, and all the patients who participated in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Forskningsrådet i Sydöstra Sverige [FORSS-705371]; Kronoberg County Health Authority under Grant [15/2017].

Notes on contributors

Ulrica Hörberg

Ulrica Hörberg is an Associate Professor in Caring Science at Linnaeus University, Sweden where she leads the research group Lifeworld led Health, Caring and Learning (HCL) and she is Director of Studies for the PhD programme in Caring Sciences. Further, she is a member of the advisory board of the Centre for Health, Humanities and Medicine at Linnaeus University. Her research explores psychiatric and forensic psychiatric caring, in addition to caring and learning in educational and health care contexts.

Petra Wagman

Petra Wagman is an Associate Professor in Occupational Therapy at Jönköping University, Sweden. Her research interest concerns what people do (everyday activities), what they think and feel about what they do and how these aspects relate to health and well-being. This encompasses everything from the individual's health to the global consequences of human everyday activities.

Anna Birgitta Gunnarsson

Anna Birgitta Gunnarsson is an Associate Professor in Occupational Therapy at Gothenburg University, and R&D leader in the KronobergCounty Health Authority, Växjö, Sweden. Further, she is a member of the advisory board of the Centre for Health, Humanities and Medicine at the Kronoberg County Health Authority /Linnaeus University. Her main area of research is everyday occupations, creative activities, mental health and well-being.