Narratives of family transition during the first year post-head injury: perspectives of the non-injured members

Aim To explore the narratives created by non‐injured family members in relation to themselves and their family in the first year after head injury. Background A head injury is a potentially devastating injury. The family responds to this injury by supporting the individual and their recovery....

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Main Authors: Whiffin, Charlotte Jane, Bailey, Christopher, Ellis-Hill, Caroline, Jarratt, Nickey, Hutchinson, Peter
Format: Article
Published: Wiley 2015
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Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50747/
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author Whiffin, Charlotte Jane
Bailey, Christopher
Ellis-Hill, Caroline
Jarratt, Nickey
Hutchinson, Peter
author_facet Whiffin, Charlotte Jane
Bailey, Christopher
Ellis-Hill, Caroline
Jarratt, Nickey
Hutchinson, Peter
author_sort Whiffin, Charlotte Jane
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Aim To explore the narratives created by non‐injured family members in relation to themselves and their family in the first year after head injury. Background A head injury is a potentially devastating injury. The family responds to this injury by supporting the individual and their recovery. While the perspective of individual family members has been well documented, there is growing interest in how the family as a whole makes sense of their experiences and how these experiences change over time. Design Longitudinal narrative case study using unstructured in‐depth interviews. Methods Data were collected during an 18‐month period (August 2009–December 2010). Nine non‐injured family members from three families were recruited from an acute neurosurgical ward and individual narrative interviews were held at one, three and 12 months postinjury where participants were asked to talk about their experience of head injury. Analysis was completed on three levels: the individual; the family and between family cases with the aim of identifying a range of interwoven narrative threads. Findings Five interwoven narratives were identified: trauma, recovery, autobiographical, suffering and family. The narrative approach emphasized that the year posthead injury was a turbulent time for families, who were active agents in the process of change. Conclusion This study has shown the importance of listening to people's stories and understanding their journeys irrespective of the injured person's outcome. Change postinjury is not limited to the injured person: family members need help to understand that they too are changing as a result of their experiences.
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spelling nottingham-507472020-05-04T20:09:28Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50747/ Narratives of family transition during the first year post-head injury: perspectives of the non-injured members Whiffin, Charlotte Jane Bailey, Christopher Ellis-Hill, Caroline Jarratt, Nickey Hutchinson, Peter Aim To explore the narratives created by non‐injured family members in relation to themselves and their family in the first year after head injury. Background A head injury is a potentially devastating injury. The family responds to this injury by supporting the individual and their recovery. While the perspective of individual family members has been well documented, there is growing interest in how the family as a whole makes sense of their experiences and how these experiences change over time. Design Longitudinal narrative case study using unstructured in‐depth interviews. Methods Data were collected during an 18‐month period (August 2009–December 2010). Nine non‐injured family members from three families were recruited from an acute neurosurgical ward and individual narrative interviews were held at one, three and 12 months postinjury where participants were asked to talk about their experience of head injury. Analysis was completed on three levels: the individual; the family and between family cases with the aim of identifying a range of interwoven narrative threads. Findings Five interwoven narratives were identified: trauma, recovery, autobiographical, suffering and family. The narrative approach emphasized that the year posthead injury was a turbulent time for families, who were active agents in the process of change. Conclusion This study has shown the importance of listening to people's stories and understanding their journeys irrespective of the injured person's outcome. Change postinjury is not limited to the injured person: family members need help to understand that they too are changing as a result of their experiences. Wiley 2015-04 Article PeerReviewed Whiffin, Charlotte Jane, Bailey, Christopher, Ellis-Hill, Caroline, Jarratt, Nickey and Hutchinson, Peter (2015) Narratives of family transition during the first year post-head injury: perspectives of the non-injured members. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 71 (4). pp. 849-859. ISSN 1365-2648 head injury narrative analysis nurses nursing qualitative recovery rehabilitation trauma https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jan.12551 doi:10.1111/jan.12551 doi:10.1111/jan.12551
spellingShingle head injury
narrative analysis
nurses
nursing
qualitative
recovery
rehabilitation
trauma
Whiffin, Charlotte Jane
Bailey, Christopher
Ellis-Hill, Caroline
Jarratt, Nickey
Hutchinson, Peter
Narratives of family transition during the first year post-head injury: perspectives of the non-injured members
title Narratives of family transition during the first year post-head injury: perspectives of the non-injured members
title_full Narratives of family transition during the first year post-head injury: perspectives of the non-injured members
title_fullStr Narratives of family transition during the first year post-head injury: perspectives of the non-injured members
title_full_unstemmed Narratives of family transition during the first year post-head injury: perspectives of the non-injured members
title_short Narratives of family transition during the first year post-head injury: perspectives of the non-injured members
title_sort narratives of family transition during the first year post-head injury: perspectives of the non-injured members
topic head injury
narrative analysis
nurses
nursing
qualitative
recovery
rehabilitation
trauma
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50747/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50747/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50747/