The home environment as a place for rehabilitation, care and recovery - how does the Covid-19 pandemic affect the rehabilitation process?

The project will contribute with knowledge about rehabilitation in the home during pandemics. This is important to be able to handle similar crises in the future but also to develop strategies for sustainable rehabilitation at home. In our ongoing research project (Formas funded), we study the importance of the physical environment for health, activity and participation in people with stroke who are rehabilitated at home. We have conducted in-depth interviews with people in their home environment and collected data about their homes and immediate environment, health and recovery. We have also interviewed professionals in stroke rehabilitation teams. We now want to conduct supplementary interviews with the people participating in the project. Our issues are; How do people with stroke experience and manage their everyday lives, opportunities for rehabilitation and health during the Covid-19 pandemic? What (new) role do environmental factors play in the rehabilitation process and safety? and How do staff experience the situation in terms of opportunities and challenges in their work? The study provides an opportunity for people in the risk group to describe their experiences - a perspective that is rarely prioritized in acute crisis management times. More and more care and treatment is taking place at home, which is a bigger challenge now during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. People with old age in combination with underlying diseases are a risk group, for those who are in need of rehabilitated interventions at home, the pandemic will have greater consequences than for the rest of the population.