Development and test of a methodology for the investigation of stroke patients’ rehabilitation in home settings

Paper i proceeding, 2017

A transformation in the way that healthcare systems and nursing services are delivered to patients can be seen at national and international levels. In Sweden, one of the major challenges regards the transfer and effectiveness of services outside specialized hospital units 1. This is the case, for instance, of care and support provide to stroke patients, whom rehabilitation activities are no longer performed within stroke units, but often, occur in home settings 2. Positive outcomes of home-based nursing and treatments for stroke patients have been acknowledge across diverse disciplines and often have been associated with early support discharge (ESD) approaches. The beneficial effects of ESD are explained by means of investigation addressing the importance of, patients’ centrality and participation in the rehabilitation process, social interactions and atmosphere, treatments planning and coordination 3. The framework provide by the International Classification of Functioning suggests also the importance of considering the role played by the physical environment in supporting the individual functioning 4. However, at present, a paucity of knowledge regarding what physical aspects of home settings facilitate rehabilitation processes of stroke patients is found 5.The aim of the present work was thus, to reduce such knowledge gap by developing and testing a methodology that could advance our understanding about the interaction between the physical environment of home settings and patients with stroke experience of it. The individual experience of the environment was here conceptualized in line with knowledge from the field of environmental psychology, which entails information regarding emotional - cognitive responses and well-being related outcomes 6.