Leva med stroke - lära av erfarenheter

Sammanfattning: This thesis concerns how people with stroke describe their experiences of life with stroke and how they learn to live with stroke. In the western world the interest for research in lived experiences has increased. This might be due to the higher rate of people with illness and lifelong diseases. The aim of the study is to analyze stories from persons with stroke of their lived experiences of life with stroke. The stories are supposed to create deepened knowledge and understanding for what it means to live with stroke. This could lead to opportunities of being able to offer good and individualised care in the future. A qualitative method was used.The phenomenological method is relevant because it tries to understand the experiences as they are lived. People have to be understood in their own context. Narration is of great importance to qualitative research as a source of knowledge with the aim to create insight and understanding to the reader. 19 persons were interviewed repetedly. Totally 38 interviews were conducted. The result of all interviews showed that in life with stroke it was important to be able to keep one´s identity, integrity and autonomy. The possibilities for this were strengthened through the feeling of being a subject and weakened through the feeling of being an object. Social support, interests, goals and hopes and an optimistic mind were resources in life with stroke while dependency, insecurity, loneliness and a pessimistic mind were restrictions. Ways of coping varied but were mainly expressed through adaptation. It was important for how life with stroke was experienced whether comparisons were made with life before stroke or with stroke when it was as worst.