Article

The study aimed to explore and analyse how, 1 year after completing a
rehabilitation programme, persons with long-term pain due to whiplash-associated
disorders (WAD) experienced their participation, and what knowledge and
strategies they had gained from it for handling their daily occupations. METHODS:
The study had an emergent design. Thematised research interviews were conducted
with nine informants. The results were analysed according to the
constant-comparison grounded-theory method. RESULTS: Data analysis resulted in
one core category, 'learning to manage WAD, a rehabilitation process', and three
associated categories: 'chaos in life', 'a light in the tunnel' and 'managing
long-term pain'. The core category and the categories describe the process the
informants underwent from how they experienced life when starting rehabilitation
to one year after completion. CONCLUSION: The informants described living with
long-term whiplash-associated pain as 'chaos' before the rehabilitation
programme. Participation helped them realise that there was a possible way for
them to control their pain, regain their daily occupation and return to work. One
year after rehabilitation the informants had started to accept their situation
and regain occupations and life roles.

Langue : ANGLAIS