Between cultural ideals and lived realities: a longitudinal rehabilitation narrative after spinal cord injury
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: PURPOSE: This study aimed to unfold one person's long-term rehabilitation process. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Based on narratology, this study configured a rehabilitation narrative from a young woman's lived rehabilitation experiences after spinal cord injury and her experiences with healthcare and social services. Interviews were conducted at 2, 3, 6, 9, 12 months, 2, 5 and 10 years after her accident. RESULTS: The process of resuming everyday life after spinal cord injury unfolded as a narrative shaped by lived experiences of disability and encounters with healthcare and social services. This narrative was characterised by a never-ending series of shifts between restoration and loss of capacity and function. This reflects that the narrative of the rehabilitee's attaining a meaningful life despite that permanent physical limitations may be a continuing struggle. If the rehabilitee's hopes and expectations deviate strongly from the support and services provided, tensions and frustrations may arise, potentially affecting the rehabilitation process and its outcome. CONCLUSIONS: A rehabilitee's narrative is shaped by its context and the involved participants. Unfolding over time it illuminates challenges arising from misalignments between the rehabilitee's lived experience of life-changing health issues and the perspectives of healthcare and social service professionals.
Source: Disability and Rehabilitation
Authors: Sanne Angel, Randi Sviland
Institution: Aarhus University
Language: English
Topic: Spinal Cord Injury Research
Subfield: Pathology and Forensic Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4409247343