Facebook as an arena for peer support?-Knowledge exchange and normative illness narratives about stroke.

Background: Experiencing a stroke disrupts the expected life course and can negatively impact cognitive, emotional, and physical functioning, making it a major source of disability globally. To support recovery, individuals can seek help by sharing their experiences in peer-to-peer support communities. Objective: The objective of this study was to use discourse analysis to examine how members of a peer-to-peer online support community for stroke survivors construct their understanding of the condition and use narratives to reconstruct their identity into different subject positions. Methods: The study context was a private Swedish peer-to-peer online support community created and administered by middle-aged people with lived experience of stroke. Data was collected through structured protocols that captured the content of posts and comments ( Results: Our findings suggest that identity struggles revolve around looking ahead and negotiating normative expectations with oneself and others. We identified five subject positions: survivor, pathfinder, mentor, struggler, and outsider. These positions highlight the plurality and fluidity of post-stroke identity processes. Members often shifted between these roles based on changes in health, emotional state, or community interactions. Conclusions: The diversity of subject positions demonstrates that stroke recovery is not a uniform process, emphasizing the importance of recognizing identity work as a core aspect of post-stroke adaptation. The findings highlight the need for more flexible, patient-centered services that accommodate diverse narratives, including those shaped by long-term disability, emotional trauma, and shifting life priorities.