Article

While there is a growing body of literature exploring life goals in
rehabilitation, little research has been undertaken that includes the voice of
the end-user. This study examined the views and experiences of people with severe
acquired brain injury regarding the place of "life goals" in residential
rehabilitation. METHODS: Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to
collect and analyze data from five semi-structured interviews with participants
in a residential rehabilitation setting. RESULTS: Three inter-related themes
emerged from this study. Social connectedness (being 'part of things') emerged as
a life goal of central importance for all participants (Theme 1). However, in
order to achieve this sense of belonging, the participants needed to tentatively
balance the opportunities arising within their environmental milieu (Theme 2)
with the interpersonal factors relating to their unchanged, changed and changing
self-identity (Theme 3). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that social identity
and social connectedness ought to be primary foci of rehabilitation rather than
matters only of secondary concern. Consideration needs to be given to both the
environmental contexts and the intrapersonal strategies that support people who
require residential rehabilitation services to achieve social connection, and
thus their life goals, following a severe acquired brain injury. Implications for
Rehabilitation There is a need to better support people with severe acquired
brain injury (ABI) in terms of their social relationships and social identity
during the delivery of person-centered rehabilitation services. Within the
clinical setting there should be regular, in depth and open dialogue in which the
individuals' values and preferences are discovered. A focus on the coherence
between daily activities and the person's life goals is required for people with
severe ABI. Clinicians need to consider how life goals for individual people
change or are re-prioritized over the life span.

Langue : ANGLAIS