The adaptation process after traumatic brain injury An individual and ongoing occupational struggle to gain a new identity

Abstract

The aim of this study is to understand better how individuals with traumatic brain injury make sense of their adaptation process and their performance of occupations within this process. For this study, four participants were interviewed twice. Thereafter analyses following a narrative approach led to the construction of four individual narratives. The results indicate that the adaptation process following traumatic brain injury is (1) a necessary struggle to gain a new identity; (2) facilitated by engagement in familiar occupations in familiar environments; (3) a protracted learning process that continues long after rehabilitation ends; (4) individual and situated. The results suggest that healthcare professionals including occupational therapists should: allow individuals with traumatic brain injury to test and practise their abilities within their own home environments; provide them with the necessary space to practise on their own; guide them in using their own and new strategies in a way that is both efficient and personally satisfying. Finally, this study discusses whether rehabilitation services should be offered over a protracted period of time. Professional support following the rehabilitation period—precisely the period in which they are trying to establish a meaningful existence with their disabilities—could be a more useful path to follow.

Key words::

• Occupational therapy
• situated learning process
• occupation
• re-identification
• narrative

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the four participants who were generously willing to share their time and stories with the first-named author. This study was part of the European Master of Science in Occupational Therapy programme and was supported by Rehabilitation Centre Heliomare at Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.