Sammendrag
Background: Persons with stroke are susceptible to psychosocial problems, and express disappointment at how
health care professionals fail to meet their psychosocial needs following discharge to home. The responsibility of
nurses and occupational therapists in stroke rehabilitation is to assist the persons and their families during the
recovery and adjustment process. A home-based dialogical intervention aiming to enhance psychosocial support
was therefore developed and tested in a randomized controlled trial. This study is a part of the process evaluation
conducted alongside the trial. The aim was to explore the nurses’ and occupational therapists’ experiences of
conducting the intervention.
Methods: Eighteen nurses and four occupational therapists participated in six focus groups to explore their
experiences when providing the intervention. The themes discussed in the focus groups were the aspects that
facilitated the delivering of the intervention and the challenges they encountered during the study period. The
interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis.
Results: The analysis generated two themes. The theme Developing a supportive relationship to facilitate the
adjustment process following stroke had two subthemes: Getting personally involved and Handling challenges. This
theme reveals how the nurses and occupational therapists experienced their relationship with the persons with
stroke and potential threats which challenged them while conducting the intervention. The theme Developing
professional skills in providing psychosocial support had two subthemes: Becoming confident in conducting
dialogues and Integrating psychosocial topics. This theme reveals the aspects that the nurses and occupational
therapists perceived as facilitating the development of their professional skills in conducting the dialogues.
Conclusion: Delivering the psychosocial intervention was perceived as deeply meaningful and increased the
nurses’ and occupational therapists’ understanding of how to support stroke survivors to live with the
consequences of stroke. However, balancing the professional and the personal relationship was challenging. A basic
educational programme, training, supervision and having dedicated time were crucial elements to instil confidence
in professionals conducting theme-based dialogues to promote post-stroke psychosocial well-being. Individual
clinical experience and knowledge of stroke care were considering important to enable professionals to integrate
psychosocial rehabilitation into community health care.
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