Abstract
Individuals with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) suffer chronic impairment across cognitive, physical and psycho-social domains, and the experience of anxiety, isolation and apathy has been amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative evaluation was conducted of 14 individuals with ABI who had participated in series of COVID adapted group-based intervention(s) that had been designed to improve wellbeing. Eight themes were identified: Facilitating Safety, Fostering Positive Emotion, Managing and Accepting Difficult Emotions, Promoting Meaning, Finding Purpose and Accomplishment, Facilitating Social Ties, (Re)Connecting to Nature, and Barriers to Efficacy. Findings are discussed with respects to recent theoretical developments in positive psychology and wellbeing science and support the use of online and outdoor interventions to enhance wellbeing in individuals living with ABI during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper makes a unique contribution to second wave positive psychology (PP2.0) through the application of recent advances in wellbeing science to an ABI population during the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, this paper lays the foundation for new interventions that not only reduce impairment and distress, but also create opportunities for meaning and enhanced wellbeing in people living with chronic conditions and those individuals living with ABI in particular.
Highlights
Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) is a life changing event which can have a devastating impact on all aspects of a person’s functioning, taking away a survivors’ personal sense of meaning and identity (Gracey et al, 2009; Carroll and Coetzer, 2011; Ownsworth and Haslam, 2014)
While the Holistic Model of Neurorehabilitation has been shown to be more effective than more traditional approaches (Cicerone et al, 2008; Cattelani et al, 2010), we argue that this model can be enhanced by taking into consideration theories of wellbeing and advances in wellbeing science (Fisher et al, 2020)
This work evaluated the experience of 14 participants who completed at least one ‘COVID adapted’ psycho-social intervention offered by the community neurorehabilitation service, based at a major hospital located in South Wales, during the COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) is a life changing event which can have a devastating impact on all aspects of a person’s functioning, taking away a survivors’ personal sense of meaning and identity (Gracey et al, 2009; Carroll and Coetzer, 2011; Ownsworth and Haslam, 2014). ABI patients undergoing rehabilitation during the pandemic were often unable to access face-to-face appointments or groups (Coetzer and Bichard, 2020) as healthcare professionals were deployed to acute COVID-19 services (Silva et al, 2020), increasing psycho-social symptoms of anxiety, isolation and apathy (Rossi et al, 2020). Brain injury can bring considerable distress and suffering, there are potential opportunities for Psycho-Social Interventions During COVID-19 Pandemic psychological growth (Frankl, 1985; Wong, 2011; Lyon et al, 2020; Tulip et al, 2020). Presented here, are the qualitative experiences of ABI patients from a Neurorehabilitation service in South Wales, United Kingdom, who participated in a series of interventions designed to facilitate wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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