Association between satisfaction and participation in everyday occupations after stroke.

BACKGROUND: Within occupational therapy, it is assumed that individuals are satisfied when participating in everyday occupations that they want to do. However, there is little empirical evidence to show this.

AIMS: The aim of this study is to explore and describe the relation between satisfaction and participation in everyday occupations in a Swedish cohort, 5 years post stroke.

METHODS: Sixty-nine persons responded to the Occupational Gaps Questionnaire (OGQ). The questionnaire measures subjective restrictions in participation, i.e. the discrepancy between doing and wanting to do 30 different occupations in everyday life, and satisfaction per activity. Results were analysed with McNemar/chi-square.

RESULTS: Seventy percent of the persons perceived participation restrictions. Individuals that did not perceive restrictions in their participation had a significantly higher level of satisfaction (p = .002) compared to those that had restrictions. Participants that performed activities that they wanted to do report between 79 and 100% satisfaction per activity.

CONCLUSION: In this cohort, there was a significant association between satisfaction and participating in everyday occupations one wants to do, showing that satisfaction is an important aspect of participation and substantiates a basic assumption within occupational therapy. The complexity of measuring satisfaction and participation in everyday occupations is discussed.