A qualitative exploration of experiences of others and accounts of self in the narratives of persons who have experienced traumatic brain injury

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects thousands of people in South Africa. Our knowledge regarding this phenomenon has expanded rapidly and the problematic psychological wellbeing of persons who have been injured through TBI has been well documented. When reviewing the published literature regarding TBI it would appear that the majority originate from a positivist epistemology, quantitative methodology, and focus mainly on cognitive and/or motor ability changes of the injured individual. Furthermore, literature regarding interaction between the injured person and others tend to focus on uninjured family members’ experience of and adaptation to the injured person – generally ignoring the injured person’s experience of others. This study addressed this gap in the literature by making use of a qualitative research design to explore how injured persons' experience of others might contribute to the challenges, other than those related to cognitive and physical changes, persons face following TBI. Specifically, this study investigated whether themes that suggest a "loss of self" could be identified in the narratives of the participants' experiences of others. While not being able to support the idea of “loss of self” in the participants' narratives, there are indications that experiences of others may add to the challenges injured persons face following TBI.