CONSTRUCTING THE REALITY OF RECOVERY - FAMILY HOME CARE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

Development of home health care programs for family caregivers is pred icated on an understanding of problems caregivers encounter and ways i n which they manage those problems. This article describes home care m anagement strategies of family caregivers of stroke survivors. Qualita tive analysis of the interviews with a purposive sample of family care givers indicated that caregivers of stroke survivors practice situatio nal vigilance for the stroke survivor, create solutions for problems a ssociated with functional losses of a stroke, construct the reality of recovery for themselves and the stroke survivor, and seek to find per sonal meaning in the caregiving experience. Implications for practice and future research are proposed.