The aphasic storyteller: coconstructing stories to promote psychosocial well-being after stroke.
Telling stories is essential to the continuous process of creating meaning and to self-understanding. Persons with aphasia are vulnerable to psychosocial problems by their limited ability to talk and interact with others. This single-case study illustrates how a young woman with aphasia and a trained nurse interacted to coconstruct stories within the context of a longitudinal clinical intervention aimed at promoting psychosocial well-being in the first year after a stroke. Data were collected through qualitative interviews and participant observation; they were then analyzed from a hermeneutic-phenomenological perspective. The experience of coconstructing stories made an important contribution to improving the participant's psychological well-being. The shared construction of the participant's story evolved as a cumulative process, and it was facilitated by the establishment of trust in the participant-nurse relationship, the systematic use of worksheets and supported conversations, and a specific focus on psychosocial topics and structural organization.
Department of Nursing Science, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. b.a.bronken@medisin.uio.no
Berit Arnesveen
BA
Bronken
Marit
M
Kirkevold
Randi
R
Martinsen
Kari
K
Kvigne
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000739:Anecdotes as Topic; D001037:Aphasia / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation