495
Life satisfaction 6 years after stroke
Fig. 2. Experiences of satisfaction with “life as a whole”, “sexual life”, “family life” and “partner relationship” in stroke participants without partner,
stroke participants with partner and spouses 1 year and 6 years after stroke. Included are data from the general population.
One unsatisfied spouse made this observation: “Be-
cause my husband can’t drive a car after the stroke,
all the shopping, drop-offs and pick-ups are on me.
My husband can’t work anymore, which means I have
financial responsibility for the family. My husband
sits there; he can’t work, doesn’t drive a car.” (6-year
follow-up, woman).
At the 1-year follow-up approximately 80% of the
spouses were satisfied with both their “Family life”
and “Partner relationship” (Fig. 2). However, at the
6-year follow-up the percentage of satisfied spouses
was lower; especially regarding satisfaction with
“Partner relationship” where just above 50% reported
being satisfied.
At the 1-year follow-up difficulties were expres-
sed: “He has a hard time showing emotion” (1-year
follow-up, woman), and “There are problems with
daily socialising – to understand/converse” (1-year
follow-up, woman) and “Spouse’s mood swings and
major misunderstandings between us” (1-year follow-
up, woman). Notably, some expressed positive expe-
riences: “Our relationship has almost become stronger
and our gratitude at not having been physically affec-
ted is infinite. We love each other and care about each
other in a new way.” (1-year follow-up, woman), and
“Greater insight into life’s vulnerability and the mea-
ning of good relationships within the family” (1-year
follow-up, woman).
At the 6-year follow-up the spouses expressed
negative aspects: “He’s shut in at home. Family life
is adapted based on him. Everything revolves around
him.” (6-year follow-up, woman), and “My husband
is more irritated, easily stressed and has increased
susceptibility to alcohol. This leads to more conflicts,
and small and large talks about many things we once
agreed on.” (6-year follow-up, woman), and “I have
almost total responsibility for the household; I buy the
food, take out the recycling, clean, do the laundry and
so on.” (6-year follow-up, woman).
The domain “Sexual life” had the lowest proportions
of satisfied spouses, with less than 33% being satisfied
on both follow-up occasions.
DISCUSSION
This study explored overall life satisfaction and, in
particular, the 3 items of “Closeness”, i.e. “Family
life”, “Partner relationship” and “Sexual life”, at 1 and
6 years after stroke. The findings showed that married
stroke participants and single stroke participants expe-
rienced changes in satisfaction regarding all 3 items of
“Closeness”, most often of a negative character. The
same pattern was found among spouses. The results
revealed that 6 years after stroke the levels of satisfac-
tion in stroke participants and spouses were far below
those of the general population (9). However, there
J Rehabil Med 51, 2019