การให้ความหมายและการจัดการความทุกข์ทรมานจากความพิการในผู้ที่เป็นโรคหลอดเลือดสมอง The Meaning and Management of Suffering from Stroke Disability in Persons with Stroke

Abstract

Objective: To explain the meaning and management of suffering fromstroke disability. Method: In this qualitative research, 15 stroke personsexperiencing disability were purposively selected from 2 urban communitiesin Saraburi province. Data were collected using in-depth interviews with aninterview guide developed by the researchers between March 2013 andJanuary 2014. The Leonard’s method was used to analyze the data.Results: It was found that meaning of suffering from stroke disability andits management comprised of 2 phases. The first phase was “beforeacceptance of disability phase” where informants described the meaning ofsuffering from stroke disability as “unable to accept and willing to die,”“prefer death over living with disability,” “unhappy life and suffering andpain” and “meaningless life and being burden to others.” These meaningsled to various suffering-management strategies including seeking variousself-management strategies to relieve suffering, building hope and sharingsuffering among family members, learning to perform activities of dailyliving, and letting it be. The second phase was “acceptance of disabilityphase” where informants perceived and described the meaning of sufferingfrom stroke disability in the positive thinking based on illness trajectory. Inthis phase, meaning of suffering from disability of stroke were 1) beinglucky to have disability and 2) having the opportunity to pay back karmaand willing to further good act and merit. As a result, they used varioussuffering-management strategies including fighting with stroke disability forlife, enforcing spiritual well-being, moving toward positive thinking, usingBuddhism way for mind-healing. Conclusion: Healthcare professionalsshould be aware of the meaning of stroke disability suffering andmanagement from the perspectives of stroke persons to be used asguidance for providing holistic care to help assessing and managingsuffering in an early stage of disability.Keywords: suffering management, disability, stroke, qualitative research