Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T23:21:19.976Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Identity Continuity in the Face of Biographical Disruption: ‘It's the same me’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2012

Barbara Wolfenden  and
Marty Grace
Barbara Wolfenden
Affiliation:
La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Marty Grace*
Affiliation:
Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Professor Marty Grace PhD, MSW, BSW, Social Work Unit, School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Footscray Park Campus, Victoria University, PO Box 14428, Melbourne 8001, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

In Australia, 20% of stroke survivors are aged less than 55 years. These younger survivors value age-appropriate, identity-affirming goals, such as resuming employment. This article reports on a small qualitative research project that explored the experiences of young, higher functioning stroke survivors in re-establishing identity and returning to work. The participants understood identity as both an inner sense of self and as socially and discursively constructed. The research found that the participants actively pursued identity continuity while managing biographical disruption. Resumption of life roles and responsibilities were important for identity re-establishment, but fraught, particularly the return to work. The findings suggest that psychosocial rehabilitation could play a greater role in supporting survivors’ resumption of valued life roles, including return to work.

Keywords

strokereturn to workbiographical disruptionidentity continuitypsychosocial rehabilitation
Type
Articles
Information
Brain Impairment , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , September 2012 , pp. 203 - 211
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alaszewski, A., Alaszewski, H., Potter, J., & Penhale, B. (2007). Working after stroke: survivors’ experiences and perceptions of barriers to and facilitators of the return to paid employment. Disability and Rehabilitation, 29 (24), 1858–1869.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baum, C., Christiansen, C., & Bass-Haugen, J. (2005). Person–Environment–Occupation–Performance: a model for planning interventions for individuals and organizations. In Christiansen, C. & Baum, C. (Eds.), Occupational therapy: performance, participation and wellbeing (pp. 373–392). Thorofare, NJ: Slack Inc.Google Scholar
Benwell, B., & Stokoe, E. (2006). Discourse and identity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cott, C., Wiles, R., & Devitt, R. (2007). Continuity, transition and participation: preparing clients for life in community post stroke. Disability and Rehabilitation, 29 (20–21), 1566–1574.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellis-Hill, C., Payne, S., & Ward, C. (2008). Using stroke to explore the Life Thread Model: an alternative approach to understanding rehabilitation following an acquired injury. Disability and Rehabilitation, 30 (2), 150–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gracey, F., Palmer, S., Rous, B., Psalia, K., Shaw, K., O'Dell, J., . . . Mohamed, S. (2008). ‘Feeling part of things’: personal construction of self after brain injury. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 18 (5), 627–650.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Habibis, D. (2009). The illness experience: lay perspectives, disability and chronic illness. In Germov, J. (Ed.), Second opinion: an introduction to health sociology (4th ed., pp. 288–306). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Haslam, C., Holme, A., Haslam, A., Iyer, A., Jetten, J., & Williams, W. (2008). Maintaining group memberships: social identity continuity predicts wellbeing after stroke. Neurospychological Rehabilitation, 18 (5), 671–691.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lawrence, M. (2010). Young adults’ experience of stroke: a qualitative review of the literature. British Journal of Nursing, 19 (4), 241–284.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Medin, J., Barajas, J., & Ekberg, K. (2006). Stroke patients’ experiences of return to work. Disability and Rehabilitation, 28 (17), 1051–1060.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mold, F., McKevitt, C., & Wolfe, C. (2003). A review and commentary of the social factors which influence stroke care: issues of inequality in qualitative literature. Health and Social Care in the Community, 11 (5), 405–414.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morris, R. (2011). The pyschology of stroke in young adults: the roles of service provision and return to work. Stroke Research and Treatment, 2011 (Article ID 534812), 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NSF (Australian National Stroke Foundation). (2010). Facts, figures and statistics. Retrieved from: http://www.strokefoundation.com.au/facts-figures-and-statsGoogle Scholar
Sani, F. (Ed.) (2008). Self continuity: individual and collective perspectives. New York: Psychology Press, Taylor & Francis Group.Google Scholar
Sarantakos, S. (2005). Social research (3rd ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sedikides, C., Wildschut, T., Gaertner, L., Routledge, C., & Arndt, J. (2008). Nostalgia as an enabler of self continuity. In Sani, F. (Ed.), Self continuity: individual and collective perspectives (pp. 227–239). New York: Psychology Press, Taylor & Francis Group.Google Scholar