A feminist perspective on stroke rehabilitation: the relevance of de Beauvoir's theory.

The thoughts of Simone de Beauvoir have retained an important place in feminist scholarship. In this Norwegian paper, de Beauvoir's ideas on the different experiences of men and women are applied to the case of stroke rehabilitation. The authors argue that traditional approaches to rehabilitation, which often place it in the context of athletic activity, are less appropriate for women than for men. Indeed, they discuss one Norwegian study in which women patients stayed by their beds reading, while men roamed the corridors discussing their athletic and hunting exploits. The authors argue that such evidence should challenge healthcare professionals to devise rehabilitation regimes which take gender-based preferences into account. 48 references.