Identity construction and meaning-making after subarachnoid haemorrhage

• Aim: The aim was to analyse people's accounts of subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) and to describe how they initiate and create meaning for the onset and events surrounding the SAH.Background: Being struck by a SAH is a dramatic event, often followed by unconsciousness. There is therefore a special need for a patient to try to create some kind of meaning for the event during recovery and afterwards.Method: Nine interviews were carried out in home settings and discourse analysis was used to interpret the data.Findings: People stricken by SAH seem to be able to judge from memory for when they were becoming ill. Critical events related to SAH were existential threats and existential insights; and time as 'waiting' and time as 'structuring meaning'. The reconstruction of the illness event may be interpreted as an identity-creating process.Conclusion: The reconstruction of the illness is a tool that can be used by nurses and other health professionals to understand a patient's self-positioning and identity-construction.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Omvårdnad (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Nursing (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Neurologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Neurology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Subarachnoid haemorrhage

Illness narratives

Pain

Memory

Meaning-making

Identity construction

Medical sciences

Medicin

Nursing

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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