Introduction: Strokes are the main cause of aphasia, a language disorder that makes it difficult to communicate with others. In the acute phase, patients are cared for in neurovascular departments. In this acute care context, conducting research among caregivers to gather their experiences of caregiver-patient relationships with regard to aphasic patients can be complex.
Purpose of research: To propose a participatory research methodology utilizing knowledge arising from the lived experiences of nurses and care assistants in a neurovascular department.
Method: A qualitative study based on observation was carried out with a view to ensuring that all the stakeholders involved were fully integrated into the field research. The analysis was carried out in a participatory manner with a nurse and a care assistant, using the grounded theory approach.
Results: Twenty-one care situations were observed over a three-month period. Following an initial report, eight situations from this group were selected and analyzed following the six stages of grounded theory analysis, four of which were carried out in a participatory manner with a nurse and a care assistant.
Conclusions: Discussing caregivers’ involvement in the research with them beforehand, given their professional constraints, helped maximize their participation throughout the study. The dynamics of the reporting and analysis stages were conducive to utilizing the nurses’ and care assistants’ lived experiences.