The personal and social experiences of community-dwelling younger adults after stroke in Australia: a qualitative interview study

Objectives: To examine the personal and social experiences of younger adults after stroke. Design: Qualitative study design involving in-depth semi-structured interviews and rigorous qualitative descriptive analysis informed by social constructionism. Participants: Nineteen young stroke survivors aged 18 to 55 at the time of their first-ever stroke. Setting: Participants were recruited from urban and rural settings across Australia. Interviews took place in a clinic room of the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health (Melbourne, Australia), over an online conference platform or by telephone. Results: Four main themes emerged from the discourses: (1) psycho-emotional experiences after young stroke; (2) losing pre-stroke life construct and relationships; (3) recovering and adapting after young stroke; and (4) invalidated by the old-age, physical concept of stroke. While these themes ran through the narratives of all participants, data analysis also drew out interesting vari...