Lessons learned from a school for stroke recovery

This article reports the findings of a multiple case study tracing the long-term (3-10 years post event) recovery patterns of 8 stroke survivors who had participated in an unusually enriched recovery environment for at least 2 years. Data sources included extended interviews as well as archival records from that period. Shared aspects across cases included the following: (a) the singular importance of this social educational environment to their respective recoveries, (b) extended grief and new anxiety problems co-occurring with recovery during the first years, and (c) shared temporal patterns of recovery trajectory, including the multi-year duration of functional improvement. Findings are discussed within the context of recent research in mental health, adult education, and neuroscience. Recovery models that embrace the dynamic interplay of real-life environments, events, and goals situated in an individualized yet social context suggest the potential for an integrated recovery paradigm within the rehabilitation sciences.