Bringing qualitative research into rehabilitation - a worked example of developing a rehabilitation program for patients with fibromyalgia.

Abstract

Researchers and a multidisciplinary clinical team collaborated on the development of a rehabilitation programme for patients with fibromyalgia (FM). In this chapter, we describe the process of developing the programme, which involved reflecting across evidence, patientcenteredness, and clinical experiences. Pulling the different knowledges together, we applied condition-oriented evidence and a biopsychosocial model to demonstrate the complexity of FM and determine the target of the programme. The programme’s patient-centred approach was supported by patient-oriented evidence, theories of suffering and personal recovery, and clinical experiences, which fit together into a personal resource-oriented recovery model. Our experience was that applying a qualitative explorative approach and incorporating evidence from qualitative studies enhanced our reflexivity. Moreover, a ‘bottom-up’ working process resulted in a broad understanding about FM, what FM is like to live with and what a personal recovery process implies for a patient.