Benchmarking as everyday functional assessment in stroke recovery.
OBJECTIVE
Functional assessment in stroke recovery extends beyond formal testing and evaluation. Stroke survivors themselves continuously engage in the process of reckoning their functional capacities as they go about their everyday lives. This process is called benchmarking. The aim of this article is to discuss and illustrate how it operates in three areas of experience--self-definition, comorbidity and age, and the tasks of daily life.


METHODS
Benchmarking data are drawn from in-depth qualitative interviews with male stroke survivors of various ages and from three ethnic groups (Hispanic, African American, and non-Hispanic White).


RESULTS
The results show that the benchmarking process is evident in all social categories in which survivors fall, but specific kinds of benchmarks may be more prominent in some categories than others.


CONCLUSIONS
The lessons provided by everyday functional assessment for understanding the stroke experience, as well as directions for further study, are discussed in the conclusion.
Gubrium
Jaber F
JF
Department of Sociology, University of Missouri, Columbia, 65211-6100, USA.
Rittman
Maude R
MR
Williams
Christine
C
Young
Mary Ellen
ME
Boylstein
Craig A
CA
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology*; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D019985:Benchmarking; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D015897:Comorbidity; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012803:Sick Role; D012917:Social Adjustment