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You Only Get One Brain: Adult Reflections on the Long-Term Impacts of Traumatic Brain Injury in Adolescence
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 November 2021
Abstract
This research adds to scarce literature regarding adolescent experiences of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Retrospective accounts of young adults who had sustained a TBI in adolescence were analysed to explore the perceived impact this had on their lives and forming identities during this important developmental stage.
Thirteen adults (aged 20–25 years; mean 23 years) who sustained a mild or moderate TBI during adolescence (i.e. aged 13–17 years at injury), approximately 7.7 years (range = 6.7–8.0 years) prior, participated in the research. Semi-structured individual interviews, analysed using thematic analysis, explored participants’ experiences following their TBIs.
Thematic analysis of interview data produced two categories of themes: (1) Impacts on Important Areas of Life, which included: schoolwork suffered, career opportunities became limited, struggling with work and missing out socially; and (2) Impacts on Identity: with themes including feeling ‘stupid’, feeling self-conscious, loss of social identity and being dependent.
TBI sustained during adolescence can have broad impacts on important areas of life and on developing identity.
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- © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Australasian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment