Changes in Occupational Patterns after Disability - A private, a domestic, or a working life triage - Exploring individual experiences through the lens of qualitative methods.

Abstract

The aim of the research presented in this dissertation is to explore individuals’ experiences regarding everyday occupations and adaptation to a changed life situation after disability. The aftermath of a severe illness or trauma changes human beings’ ability to keep up with their former capabilities and endurance. Physical capacity and occupational patterns are altered: self-care and moving around in-doors and around one’s neighbourhood often requires more time to perform, and new habits and roles are created during this period of adaptation. In caring for a family member, relatives take on tasks that are new to them, and they could suffer from symptoms of burnout. Adaptation to the activities of daily life could be a stressful period for the individual as well as for the relatives. Support from the family network and the work environment might be of assistance in the process of adapting to a current life situation. The question of how individuals as well as relatives change their habits and roles after disability, and how this influences their future occupational life, has not often been studied. This research gap, with the incentive to gain knowledge about individual experiences of returning to work with a disability pension or after having had a traumatic brain injury formed the topics for this dissertation. Qualitative methods were chosen for analysis with the intent of displaying the participants’ experiences from a number of perspectives. In gathering data for three separate studies, nine informal caregivers of family members with eating and swallowing difficulties, fourteen people with neuropsychological or musculoskeletal diseases having a disability pension and eight men recovering from a traumatic brain injury agreed to participate and were individually interviewed. The findings revealed implications for extended supportive interventions of counselling characteristics with the intention of enhancing the individuals’ ability to control their everyday occupations from a balanced point of view between what they have to do and what they want to do. Being the agents of their everyday domestic tasks as well as work routines could increase the individuals’ beliefs in their own skills. The conclusion drawn from the findings in this dissertation is that balancing activities after disability several of the participants chose to downsize at least one of the domains of home labour, leisure activities, or working hours in order to meet their capacity and endurance.