Negotiating role management through everyday activities: narratives in action of two stroke survivors and their spouses

Abstract

Purpose: To manage social roles is a challenging part of self-management post-stroke. This study explored how stroke survivors act as role managers with their spouses in the context of everyday activities.

Method: Two stroke survivors with a first time stroke living at home with a spouse were included. Data were generated through participant observations at their own environment at 3, 6, 9, 15 and 21 months post-discharge. The narrative analysis focused on the actions of participants.

Results: Daily activities can be understood as an arena where role management and a meaningful live is negotiated and co-constructed with others. Everyday activities gave stroke survivors and their spouses insight into stroke survivors’ capacities in daily situations. This was sometimes empowering, and other times conflicting when a spouse had negative perceptions of the abilities of the stroke survivors.

Conclusion: The findings add to the current understanding of self-management and role management with regard to how these are situated in everyday activities. Daily activities can help both spouses to reflect and understand about self-management, role management and comanagement in daily life. Moreover, observing stroke survivors in everyday situations provides professionals with concrete pictures of stroke survivors’ performance and self-management in interaction with their spouses.

Implications for Rehabilitation

• Self-management is a dynamic process in which individuals actively manage a chronic condition and finally live a meaningful life with a long-term chronic condition; self-management can be divided into medical, role, and emotional management; comanagement is when individuals activate resources and use the capacities of other persons to manage a situation together.

• Self-management is situated in everyday activities. Everyday activities give stroke survivors ánd their partners impressions about stroke survivors’ self-management abilities post-stroke in an everyday context.

• Everyday activities give stroke survivors ánd their partners an arena where role management and a meaningful life are negotiated and coconstructed through doing.

• Observing stroke survivors in everyday situations provides professionals a concreter picture of stroke survivors’ self-management and comanagement with their partners than can be obtained from an informal interview.

Keywords:

• Everyday activities
• role management
• narrative
• self-management
• stroke

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the people who allowed us to participate in their everyday activities post-stroke and to share their post-stroke experiences for this study.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no declarations of interest.

Funding information

This study was supported by a PhD grant from the HAN University of Applied Sciences, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.