The Patient Persona of the Self-Management Experience of Home-Based Rehabilitation for Spinal Cord Injury Patients: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Purpose: To understand the real experience of self-management in home-based rehabilitation for spinal cord injury patients, and to investigate population differences and characteristics in self-management experiences and create tailored patient personas. Patients and Methods: A descriptive qualitative study was designed, and purposive sampling was utilized to choose 17 spinal cord injury patients for semi-structured interviews, guided by the concept of precision nursing. Colaizzi’s seven-step analytical approach was applied to review the data. The label system for the self-management experience of home-based rehabilitation for spinal cord injury patients was refined and summarized, and then the patient persona was constructed. Figures and tables were combined to visualize patient personas. Results: The patient persona labels for spinal cord injury patients’ self-management of home-based rehabilitation were distilled into six dimensions: basic characteristics, cognitive characteristics, behavioral characteristics, psychological characteristics, social support, and medical resource status. Three categories of patient personas were created: patients who are autonomy-driven, patients who are passively dependent, and patients who are suffering and conflicted. Conclusion: Patients with spinal cord injuries have a variety of home-based self-management experiences. To improve disease prognosis and patients’ capacity for self-management during home rehabilitation, healthcare professionals must thoroughly evaluate patients’ attribute features and create tailored intervention programs.