One woman's story about her everyday life after a spinal cord injury

The aim was to describe and offer an explanation for how one woman viewed her everyday life after a spinal cord injury (SCI).

Data were collected by conducting three interviews with one woman with a SCI. Open-ended questions were used with the intention of capturing the woman's own story. The narrative approach inspired by Polkinghorne was used to describe the woman's experiences of her everyday life after the SCI.

The analysis revealed that, events influenced her everyday life after a SCI and these events influenced her identity, habits and participation in activities. Further, how she has gone from a state of hopelessness in the early days to a reconstructed identity, associated with a new insight during the 2 years after the accident through a complex and dynamic process of change. In our interpretation we have attempted to provide an explanation of why this outcome came about.

When using narratives, professionals within health-care could focus on the individual instead of the diagnosis or disability. Further, according to a client-centred perspective it is important to attain the client's experiences and knowledge to gain a more complete picture in order to obtain a profound understanding of the client.