This paper examines rehabilitation inpatient experiences, and argues that the social life of the clinic is central to understandings of recovery.
Paper long abstract:
Rehabilitation following serious and disabling health events is often positioned as an individual journey, in which the inpatient, guided by health professionals, actively works towards a sense of recovery. Yet this understanding only captures part of the rehabilitation experience, and recovery draws on not only the practical activities of the amputee gym, but also through the shared experiences within and between inpatients, and during encounters with health professionals and hospital staff. Drawing upon our current study of (predominantly neurological) rehabilitation inpatients, we draw upon interviews and observational data to consider the social life of the rehabilitation clinic and argue that, for many, the socialities of rehabilitation make an equally significant contribution not only to recovery but to long-term wellbeing.