To cope with uncertainty: stroke patients' use of temporal models in narratives.
Stroke victims have to cope with a disrupted autobiography and anxiety because of an uncertain future. Professionals share this uncertainty. The patients reveal their experiences in narratives, and when they try to regain coherence and confidence in life, they use narratives in the reconstructions. Because they have a temporal problem, time might be an important issue in these narratives. The aim of this study was to elucidate the use of time models in stroke patients' narratives. Nineteen stroke patients, who had recently been discharged to their homes after the stroke, accepted to participate in the study. Their age span was between 56 and 89 years. They had lived active urban lives before the stroke, and poststroke only three had more serious physical impairment, and none was demented. They were asked to talk about their present life and their conceptions of future life. The interviews were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim and narratives that referred to temporal aspects were thematically analysed with reference to narrative time models. The stroke accident had caused an autobiographical disruption and a temporal split because of a new awareness of human temporality and an uncertainty of the future. Confronted with these problems of time, the stroke victims constructed narratives based on the time models: time cycles and dissolution of time limits, exchange of time and exclusion from time. Hence, the time models worked as tools when the stroke victims re-established coherence in their present and future life. Stroke patients handled an uncertain future by using temporal models in their narratives. Professionals can support stroke patients by reinforcing these models.
Hjelmblink
Finn
F
Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Health Services Research, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. finn.hjelmblink@pubcare.uu.se
Holmstrom
Inger
I
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D033262:Narration; D020521:Stroke / Q000523:psychology*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D013548:Sweden; D013995:Time; D035501:Uncertainty