Sense of coherence in stroke: A concept analysis with Rodger's evolutionary approach

Sense of coherence (SoC) refers to how individuals cope with stress and maintain health, yet its concept remains no consensus about how it is defined and applied in the context of stroke care. This study aims to clarify the concept of SoC by reviewing its applications in various stroke populations and its changes across different stages of stroke. The adapted steps of Rodger's evolutionary approach of concept analysis were used to explore the attributes, surrogate or related terms, antecedents, and consequences of SoC in stroke. Twenty-five articles were included after evaluating 1065 records and 80 full-text articles. The SoC's attributes, characterized with dynamicity of comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness in stroke, lie within the different stroke phases (acute, sub-acute and chronic). There is no surrogate term to SoC. Related terms included coping, resistance resources, resilience, hardiness, and readiness. Antecedents related to stroke survivors and informal caregivers included sociodemographic factors, body functioning factors, social factors, stroke-related factors, and caring factors. Consequences for stroke survivors, informal caregivers, and dyads included psychological status, health behavior, marital satisfaction, care provision, and perception of rehabilitation needs. The findings of the concept analysis of SoC in stroke reveal that this concept extends beyond survivors experienced stroke, and its comprehensive understanding needs considering various aspects including the SoC of informal caregivers, dyads, and family. This paper serves as a novel perspective for future stroke care, focusing on the needs for dynamic monitoring and adaptations to changes of SoC at different stages of stroke care. A proper understanding of SoC can also contribute to developing assessment tools and theoretical models in stroke care with some emphasis on the phases of strokes (attributes), demographic and functional characteristics (antecedents), and both stroke survivor–caregiver-related outcomes sensitive to SoC.