Perception of self-care ability among patients with stroke post-discharge: A qualitative descriptive study in Iran

Background: Patients with stroke, once at home, experience different perceptions of their ability for self-care. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to elucidate patients’ perception of their self-care ability. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were held with 10 patients with stroke, within one month following discharge from hospital. Sampling was purposeful and continued until data saturation was reached. All recorded interviews were transcribed and imported to MAXQDA software. The transcripts were content analyzed, following the five-step method by Granheim and Lundman. Results: Three main categories and ten subcategories were revealed: immersion in distress (feeling of sorrow and sadness, lack of control of life, feeling of anxiety and worry), perceived difficulty (dependency on others, disabling nature of the disease, multiple underlying diseases and mental health problems) and compatible adaptive reaction (acceptance of disability, improving health literacy, enhancement of spiritual health). Conclusions: Patients with stroke reported limited ability for self-care post-discharge, which had a considerable effect on their engagement in self-care behaviors and application of recommended treatment methods at home. The findings have implications for designing nurse-led interventions to promote self-care in this vulnerable patient population.