12.2b What is the adjustment experience for families after traumatic injury? The challenges
i) Angela's
challenges Video Q
ii) Physical vs
Cognitive injury
iii) A person's
abilities
iv) The support
families provide
A family's experience (7 mins)
Angela is the mother of Steven. When Steven was 16 years old he was involved in a motor vehicle accident and sustained a traumatic brain injury.
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As you watch the video note down Angela's challenges?
What are Angela's challenges?
Check your answers here
Finding a routine
The hidden side of cognitive disability
Adjusting to change and loss of old life
Needing to find someone to debrief with
Feeling alone and isolated
Uncertainty of how to cope
Focus being on person with injury
Discharge to home process
Wanting longer in rehabilitation
Friends not understanding
Injury affecting family as a whole
Adjusting to life post injury
Dependency of patient
Caring for self
Adjustment to carer role and new life
Loss of normality
Change in work
Lack of advice
Planning required to go away
Misunderstandings from others
Changes from hospital to home – not having safety of hospital surrounds
Lack of understanding from outside
Finding time with partner
Physical vs Cognitive injury
In the three families in the videos:
Jonathan has a traumatic brain injury.
Angela's son Stephen has a traumatic brain injury.
Cheryl's husband has a spinal cord injury
The experiences of families where a member has had a traumatic brain injury and where a member has had a spinal column injury have much in common. There are also some differences.
The following table highlights some of the different experiences of physical and cognitive injury.
Physical
Cognitive
Challenges
Isolation/Alienation
Fatigue
Incontinence
Impact of carers
Access issues
Cost of equipment
Home modifications, community
Impact of Pain
Mental Stress
Difficulty personality
Behaviour problems
Fatigue
Impact of carers
Legal issues
Consent
Guardianship
Financial concerns
A person's abilities
When thinking about the adjustment experience of families after traumatic injury and the person with the injury is is useful to consider what a person's abilities include. The injury will have impacted on some of these abilities.
The graphic below shows a typical person's abilities.
When there has been a physical or cognitive injury the person may need support to achieve what they previously did using their own abilities.
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Click on the "Person" to display the person's abilities.
Click again to return to the opening screen.
These are people's abilities. A TBI or SCI will impact on these abilities.
