Brain injury: support and complexity

Part A: Presented is a systematic literature review on the experience of friendship for individuals post TBI. A meta-synthesis approach was used to analyse seven papers with a variety of methodologies. The MMAT was used to appraise each paper’s quality prior to synthesis. Two superordinate themes emerged: ‘Loss’ and ‘Response’. The proposed model highlights that physical disability, impact on cognition, and communication difficulties all result from TBI. These losses contribute to the loss of friendship, which in turn creates feelings of loneliness, like being an outsider. This impacts on the individual emotionally. The model captures how the participants coped with these changes. The implications for clinical practice and research are discussed.

Part B: Presented is an empirical paper describing the development of a grounded theory of complexity for neuropsychology service-users. A cyclic model was developed consisting of six main categories and 13 sub-categories. These consisted of the psychologist’s reaction,interventions, service-user conformity, service conformity, time, and communication. The model shifts the focus of complexity away from the service-user and towards the professional’s experience of them. The implications for clinical practice and research are discussed.