Using blogs to explore the lived-experience of life after stroke: "A journey of discovery I never wanted to take"

Aims: To explore the lived-experiences of stroke survivors as expressed in blogs and to discover the role the blogs play in the writers' lives. Background: Stroke can be a devastating, life changing event. Previous qualitative studies tend to examine one aspect of life after stroke. As stroke o...

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Main Authors: Thomas, C., Allison, R., Latour, Jos
Format: Journal Article
Published: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/58957
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author Thomas, C.
Allison, R.
Latour, Jos
author_facet Thomas, C.
Allison, R.
Latour, Jos
author_sort Thomas, C.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Aims: To explore the lived-experiences of stroke survivors as expressed in blogs and to discover the role the blogs play in the writers' lives. Background: Stroke can be a devastating, life changing event. Previous qualitative studies tend to examine one aspect of life after stroke. As stroke often has multiple effects, it is necessary to look widely at its lived-experience. New resources which can enable researchers to explore the lived-experience of stroke are blogs. Design: Phenomenological exploration using an interpretive thematic analysis. Methods: The Internet was searched for stroke survivors' blogs (January-March 2016) using pre-set criteria, seeking blogs with entries over an extended time ( > 1 year). Suitable blogs were identified and codes of meaning were identified and developed into categories, subthemes and themes. Findings: Eight blogs were identified for analysis. Of the 40 categories, eight subthemes were assimilated; internal dialogue, emotions, transition, stroke effects, health care, "in the world", relationships, rehabilitation. Two main themes were identified related to perspectives of lived-experience; Internal relationship with "self" and External relationship with "the world". Participants expressed loss and initially strove to regain their "old" lives, their focus being recovery and independence. Conclusion: Stroke survivors must transition from their previous life to a new and initially unwelcome way of being. Rehabilitation should respect this process and support stroke survivors as they undertake this individual journey.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-589572018-10-26T03:21:25Z Using blogs to explore the lived-experience of life after stroke: "A journey of discovery I never wanted to take" Thomas, C. Allison, R. Latour, Jos Aims: To explore the lived-experiences of stroke survivors as expressed in blogs and to discover the role the blogs play in the writers' lives. Background: Stroke can be a devastating, life changing event. Previous qualitative studies tend to examine one aspect of life after stroke. As stroke often has multiple effects, it is necessary to look widely at its lived-experience. New resources which can enable researchers to explore the lived-experience of stroke are blogs. Design: Phenomenological exploration using an interpretive thematic analysis. Methods: The Internet was searched for stroke survivors' blogs (January-March 2016) using pre-set criteria, seeking blogs with entries over an extended time ( > 1 year). Suitable blogs were identified and codes of meaning were identified and developed into categories, subthemes and themes. Findings: Eight blogs were identified for analysis. Of the 40 categories, eight subthemes were assimilated; internal dialogue, emotions, transition, stroke effects, health care, "in the world", relationships, rehabilitation. Two main themes were identified related to perspectives of lived-experience; Internal relationship with "self" and External relationship with "the world". Participants expressed loss and initially strove to regain their "old" lives, their focus being recovery and independence. Conclusion: Stroke survivors must transition from their previous life to a new and initially unwelcome way of being. Rehabilitation should respect this process and support stroke survivors as they undertake this individual journey. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/58957 10.1111/jan.13457 Blackwell Publishing Ltd fulltext
spellingShingle Thomas, C.
Allison, R.
Latour, Jos
Using blogs to explore the lived-experience of life after stroke: "A journey of discovery I never wanted to take"
title Using blogs to explore the lived-experience of life after stroke: "A journey of discovery I never wanted to take"
title_full Using blogs to explore the lived-experience of life after stroke: "A journey of discovery I never wanted to take"
title_fullStr Using blogs to explore the lived-experience of life after stroke: "A journey of discovery I never wanted to take"
title_full_unstemmed Using blogs to explore the lived-experience of life after stroke: "A journey of discovery I never wanted to take"
title_short Using blogs to explore the lived-experience of life after stroke: "A journey of discovery I never wanted to take"
title_sort using blogs to explore the lived-experience of life after stroke: "a journey of discovery i never wanted to take"
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/58957