A sanctuary from everyday life: rheumatology patients' experiences of in-patient multidisciplinary rehabilitation - a qualitative study.

Purpose: To explore how rheumatology patients experience the personal impact of an inpatient rehabilitation stay and to elucidate the impact of contextual factors on the outcome.

Methods: Exploratory qualitative individual interviews were conducted with 15 rheumatology patients (73% female) who had completed a two-week inpatient rehabilitation stay. Data collection, analysis and interpretation of data were performed within a phenomenological-hermeneutic framework inspired by Paul Ricoeur's interpretative philosophy.