The experiences of everyday activities post-stroke

Abstract

Purpose: Practitioners can use stroke survivors’ lived experiences associated with everyday activities to understand and assess recovery from stroke, to plan interventions and to facilitate goal setting. This study explored the experiences associated with daily activities among community dwelling survivors of stroke to identify factors that influenced these experiences. Method: In this mixed method study, 23 stroke survivors completed the Daily Experiences of Pleasure, Productivity and Restoration Profile, a time use survey, on three separate, self-chosen days within 1 week. Participants subsequently completed individual, semi-structured interviews. Results: Descriptive statistics and constant comparative analysis revealed that high levels of pleasure were associated with low-demand leisure activities, high levels of productivity were associated with home management activities and engaging in hobbies provided the highest combination of pleasure, productivity and restoration. The study also revealed that lived experiences of pleasure, productivity and restoration were influenced by the convergence of internal and external factors. Conclusions: Stroke survivors’ lived experiences of pleasure, productivity and restoration in the context of everyday activities yields insight into the survivors’ recovery and adjustment processes and into their quality of life. Practitioners should therefore incorporate stroke survivors’ experiences as they facilitate goal setting and plan interventions.

Implications for Rehabilitation

• Understanding stroke survivors’ lived experiences provides practitioners valuable information to assist with goal setting and intervention planning.

• A sense of accomplishment may be gained outside of work in home management and high demand leisure activities for survivors with low self-efficacy.

• Practitioners should consider facilitating stroke survivors’ participation in their hobbies as these activities were associated with high level of pleasure, productivity and restoration.

• Attending to stroke survivors’ self-perceptions and self-expectations is critical as these internal factors influence their lived experience.

• Everyday activities
• lived experience
• stroke

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the study participants for sharing their lives with us and Catherine Greife, MS, OTR and Lindsey Stephans, MA, OTS for their assistance with this research.

Declaration of interest

This research was supported in part by funding from the American Occupational Therapy Foundation and the Occupational Therapy Department at Colorado State University.