Rehabilitation of adults with dyspraxia: health professionals learning from patients

Purpose. This study aimed to explore the experience of adults with dyspraxia, after discharge from inpatient care, in the course of their everyday activities. Method. A small-scale qualitative study conducted in metropolitan New Zealand with men who had dyspraxia after a stroke. Data collection included individual interviews and videoing each participant performing one or two everyday tasks they selected as showing the impact of the disorder. Analysis was guided by phenomenology. Results. Analysis of the data revealed the struggle participants have with their unknowing and unwilling bodies, puzzled thinking, unfamiliar surroundings and unhandy tools. Despite the enormity of their struggles, participants persevere; using strategies they devise themselves to overcome obstacles. Conclusions. The path to recovery remains unclear as dyspraxia makes itself known one day and not the next. Sheer determination and a hope for the future helps participants continue to try to reclaim the person they were prior to the dyspraxia. Health professionals can help by understanding what people with dyspraxia experience, supporting their hopefulness of improvement and building up knowledge of the functional and compensatory strategies they devise to support participation in daily activities.