"In my before life": relationships, coping and post-traumatic growth in adolescent survivors of a
traumatic brain injury
Sammanfattning
OBJECTIVE: Explore the individual, adolescent phenomeno-logy of quality of life after traumatic
brain injury.
Subjects/Patients: Adolescent survivors of traumatic brain injury.
METHODS: Qualitative interviews with 10 adolescents, mean age at assessment 17.09 years (SD
1.81). Mean time since injury 4.62 years (SD 2.89). Data were analysed using a primarily
interpretative phenomenological analysis approach.
RESULTS: Two major findings: (1) perceived quality of life was not automatically impacted by a
traumatic brain injury, but when it was, the directionality of impact (positive, negative) varied
depending on the life-domain; (2) changes in ability post-traumatic brain injury were attributed to the
injury (more often cognitive and physical changes) or to a sense of normal maturation processes
(72% and 28%, respectively). Attribution processing permeated themes of personal and social
discrepancies, which also yielded themes of: altered family and relationships, roles, responsibilities,
independence, coping and post-traumatic growth. All participants reported a happy life at the time of
interview.
CONCLUSION: The adolescents’ appraisal of their identity from pre- to post-injury life was related to
their current sense of well-being. Most notably was the sense of balance; participants addressed the
negative and positive consequences of brain injury to qualify their sense of wellbeing.