Abstract
The objective of this study was to examine families' experiences living with acquired brain injury (ABI) using a research approach that included both the affected individual family member and the family together as a family group. A narrative inquiry study, informed by the life-stage approach of Lieblich, Tuval-Mashiach, and Zilber, was used to obtain family stories. Families experiencing an ABI event were purposefully selected from different regions in a western Canadian province. Centered on the life stages of before the ABI event, now living with the ABI, and the future, thematic findings included: Families, a grounding force; Losses, individual and family; Family adaptive capacities; Experiences with the healthcare system-hospital to home; and A patchwork future-entering the unknown. Themes affirmed the significant impacts of ABI on individual and family members and acknowledged ABI as an ambiguous loss event. The findings also illuminated families' strengths and resiliencies in coping with living with ABI. The study results suggest by “thinking family” nurses can contribute towards a healthcare model that focuses on “family” as the central unit of care.
Highlights
“ inking family” is a pivotal perspective for nurses’ understanding and supporting individuals and families living with acquired brain injury (ABI)
Whilst the subsystem research has provided further understanding of individuals’ experiences living with ABI, a family systems approach that studies the family in interaction with each other is limited. is approach purports that individuals cannot be understood in isolation; rather they need to be understood within the context of the “whole” family unit [37, 38]
To obtain family perspectives of psychosocial transitions during the first 18 months post moderate to severe ABI, Whiffin et al [41] interviewed nine non-injured family members from three families at three separate intervals post ABI and the data were analyzed on three levels: the individual, the family, and between family units
Summary
“ inking family” is a pivotal perspective for nurses’ understanding and supporting individuals and families living with acquired brain injury (ABI). Understanding families’ perspectives of the impact of ABI is important as family members continue to report they require enhanced understanding of their needs and want the family to be considered the primary unit of attention and care [43, 44]. Informed by ambiguous loss theory, and employing a family research model that included both the individual family member and family members together as a group, the purpose of this study was to understand families’ experiences with ABI; to explore the impact of ABI on families’ attitudes, beliefs and identities; and to gain greater understanding of families’ relational experiences to each other, their community, and healthcare practitioners for the purpose of supporting a family-centered model of care. Informed by ambiguous loss theory, and employing a family research model that included both the individual family member and family members together as a group, the purpose of this study was to understand families’ experiences with ABI; to explore the impact of ABI on families’ attitudes, beliefs and identities; and to gain greater understanding of families’ relational experiences to each other, their community, and healthcare practitioners for the purpose of supporting a family-centered model of care. e study results suggest by “thinking family” nurses can contribute to a healthcare model that focuses on “family” as the central unit of care
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