[Quality of life in stroke patients. A phenomenological study]

To examine the perception of quality of life in those affected by the first episode of stroke.

A phenomenological qualitative study. Data collection was carried out by semi-structured interviews with patients attending a neurology clinic in the Ramón y Cajal Hospital from February to October 2008. The 20 participants met the inclusion criteria of 10-14 months of development and the exclusion criteria of not having changes in higher mental functions, or communication. Purposive sampling was used, selected according to predetermined profiles.

Stroke is interpreted as momentary event in health and not a disease. Adjusting to the environment means facing the consequences, which will directly influence the perception of how to build and organise their social networks; a social network demand for care, a formal and informal social network affected by the change, in the workplace and friends using different coping strategies, with advances and setbacks.

The perception of quality of life is subjective, flexible and unique to the subject that fits every moment of the process of recovery and whose base is focused on meeting the required bio-psycho-social needs in every phase of experimentation. Surviving a stroke is to overcome the impact and recover, in so far as possible, from the effects arising, changing individual and shared lifestyle, in restructuring the new identity and adjusting to the social context.