To explore how rheumatology patients experience the personal impact of an inpatient rehabilitation stay and to elucidate the impact of contextual factors on the outcome.
Methods:Exploratory qualitative individual interviews were conducted with 15 rheumatology patients (73% female) who had completed a two-week inpatient rehabilitation stay. Data collection, analysis and interpretation of data were performed within a phenomenological-hermeneutic framework inspired by Paul Ricoeur's interpretative philosophy.
Results:The analysis derived one core theme, A sanctuary from everyday life, and five subthemes: 1) Being seen, heard and acknowledged as an equal and whole person; 2) Professional care and compassion; 3) Social relations and interactions between patients; 4) Individual rehabilitation, but challenges regarding shared decision making; and 5) Rehabilitation as a personal process but problems with coherence and transferability of learning to everyday life.
Conclusion:Patients experience inpatient rehabilitation as a sanctuary, in the following three ways; through individually planned multidisciplinary interventions at the hospital; recognition and compassion from the multidisciplinary staff and through social relationships and interactions with fellow patients. There is a need for improved coordination across primary and secondary health care, to ease coherence and transfer of learning to the patients' everyday lives.