title: The lived experience of recapturing self-care.
abstract: This study sought to identify the characteristics of the lived experience of recapturing self-care after a stroke or a spinal cord injury (SCI). Five people who had had a stroke and six with SCI who were in the midst of recapturing self-care (1-3 months after onset) were interviewed. All interviews were analyzed using the Empirical, Phenomenological, and Psychological method. Four main characteristics were present among all of the participants' lived experiences: (a) becoming familiar with the new body, (b) recapturing self-care through trying, (c) reclaiming control, and (d) feeling uncertainty in the continued recapturing process. The findings indicate that a prerequisite for recapturing self-care was to get experience from doing to become familiar with the new body, which makes explicit the importance of enabling self-care in the rehabilitation process after stroke or SCI. The findings can be used in clinical practice to improve the understanding of how to better plan individualized self-care intervention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Therapy, Karolinska University Hospital, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Occupational Therapy, Karolinska Institutet, Fack 23 200, 141 83 Huddinge, Sweden. susanne.guidetti@ki.se
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guidetti
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Asaba
authors.forename: Kerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tham
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012648:Self Care; D020377:Self Efficacy; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D013548:Sweden