On parallel tracks: newly home from hospital--people with stroke describe their expectations

This study aimed to investigate how stroke survivors describe their expectations regarding life when coming home, and how these expectations were met on discharge from the rehabilitation clinic and during their first 3 months at home.

Semistructured interviews were performed repeatedly with five people, two women and three men, during 3 months around their discharge from hospital. Fifteen interviews were performed and analyzed using content analysis.

On discharge from the rehabilitation clinic, the informants described experience of being at a dividing line between the safety of the ward and the unknown at home. Expectations for improvement were high. A few weeks later, they described being on parallel tracks in life, waiting for improvement and adjusting to life at home. Three months after discharge, they were still waiting for improvement and had begun to realize that life might never be the same as before the stroke.

Patients after stroke may have high, sometimes unrealistic expectations of recovery at discharge. Health care professionals need to support patients in adjusting to real life by balancing high expectations with realistic views on the prognosis, this to enhance the rehabilitation process. Practicing at home or in a home-like environment is one way to highlight capacity and personal resources.