'A Completely Different Person': Embodied Dialectics and Biographical Disruption After Stroke.

Area of Science:

• Sociology of health and illness
• Body studies
• Disability studies

Background:

• Stroke survivors often face complex, long-term disabilities impacting mobility, cognition, and communication.
• Informal care plays a crucial role in the recovery and adaptation process for stroke survivors.
• Understanding the lived experience of stroke survivors requires examining the interplay between personal biography and embodiment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the relationship between biographical disruption and body studies in the context of informal care for stroke survivors.
• To develop a framework for understanding the role of embodiment within biographical disruption.
• To analyze how stroke survivors and their support networks navigate embodied experiences post-stroke.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study utilizing narratives from 41 in-depth interviews.
• Analysis of interviews with stroke survivors and their informal support networks.
• Application of theoretical concepts including biographical disruption and body studies.

Main Results:

• Identified an 'embodied dialectics' where past and present embodied experiences of chronic illness create productive tension.
• Found that contradictions in embodied understanding generate new embodied knowledge.
• Observed that ongoing tensions foster creative adaptations and conversations related to informal care and embodied practices post-stroke.

Conclusions:

• Biographical disruption in stroke survivors is shaped by an ongoing 'embodied dialectics' involving competing demands of autonomy and dependence.
• Socio-cultural practices and expectations significantly influence embodied understandings of illness and disruption.
• Creative adaptations and new embodied knowledge emerge from the dynamic interplay of past and present embodied experiences.