Abstract

The overall aim was to study and gain knowledge about what it means to live with muscular dystrophy and to study rehabilitation from the patient's perspective, among adults with muscular dystrophy in three Swedish counties: Örebro, Östergötland and Norrbotten. The thesis comprises two qualitative and three quantitative studies. Thirty interviews about illness experience were subjected to content analysis and 37 interviews about perceived support in rehabilitation were analysed according to phenomenological guidelines. Data were also collected by the Assessment of Problem-focused Coping (APC), the ADL Staircase, the Self-report ADL, the Mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale, the Sickness Impact Profile, the Psychosocial well-being questionnaire and the Quality of Life Profile. The APC was developed for assessment of problem-focused coping and also covers questions concerning the extent to which activities are experienced as problems and satisfaction with activities. The result shows that the experience of illness is largely similar in the three diagnostic groups (proximal MD, Myotonic muscular dystrophy, Myopathia distalis tarda hereditaria). The persons reported many restrictions of everyday activities, most often in mobility and transportation. Over half were dependent on other people in activities of daily living, and the illness was experienced mainly as having negative consequences for everyday life. A lower quality of life may be partly explained by a reduced capacity for activities. Problem-focused coping was used only to a limited extent, and 'fighting spirit' was the dominant coping strategy. Rehabilitation was experienced as very valuable, particularly the education about the muscle disease, technical aids, grants and physical training. Over a five-year period, disability and quality of life of the study participants deteriorated significantly, and the dependence on other people increased.

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