Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-r7xzm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-26T17:48:51.178Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

How Partners Experience Personality Change After Traumatic Brain Injury – Its Impact on Their Emotions and their Relationship

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2015

Sarah E. M. Bodley-Scott
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Gerard A. Riley*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr Gerard A. Riley, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. E-mail: G.A.Riley@bham.ac.uk.
Get access

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this qualitative study was to explore how spouses/partners experience social, emotional and behavioural changes in persons following traumatic brain injury (TBI), with a particular focus on their emotional impact and the effect on the couple relationship.

Method: Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of interview data explored five women's experiences of these changes in their partners following TBI.

Results: Themes describe the direct emotional impact of living with the changes as well as the emotional impact of attempts to manage and make sense of the changes (identity change, managing the changes and making sense of the changes). The impact on the couple relationship is described under the themes of feeling love and receiving love. Changes led three of the participants to experience their partner as having been replaced by a new person; they actively disliked this new person; they felt unable to love the new person in the same way as the old person; and their love was defined in terms of a caring relationship, rather than a spousal relationship.

Conclusions: The study provides insight into why social, emotional and behavioural changes might be so consistently associated with reduced emotional wellbeing and lower levels of relationship quality and satisfaction.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Australasian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, M.I., Parmenter, T.R., & Mok, M. (2002). The relationship between neurobehavioural problems of severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), family functioning and the psychological well-being of the spouse/caregiver: path model analysis. Brain Injury, 16 (9), 743–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blais, C.M., & Boisvert, J.M. (2005). Psychological and marital adjustment in couples following a traumatic brain injury: a critical review. Brain Injury, 19 (14), 1223–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowen, C., Yeates, G., & Palmer, S. (2010). A relational approach to rehabilitation. London: Karnac Books.Google Scholar
Braine, M.E. (2011). The experience of living with a family member with challenging behavior post acquired brain injury. Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, 43 (3), 156–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brocki, J.M., & Wearden, A.J. (2006). A critical evaluation of the use of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) in health psychology. Psychology and Health, 21 (1), 87108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, D.N., Campsie, L., Symington, C., Beattie, A., & McKinlay, W. (1986). The five year outcome of severe blunt head injury: a relative's view. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 49 (7), 764–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brooks, D.N., & McKinlay, W. (1983). Personality and behavioural change after severe blunt head injury - a relative's view. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 46 (4), 336–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burridge, A.C., Williams, W.H., Yates, P.J., Harris, A., & Ward, C. (2007). Spousal relationship satisfaction following acquired brain injury: The role of insight and socio-emotional skill. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 17 (1), 95105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chesla, C., Martinson, I., & Muwaswes, M. (1994). Continuities and discontinuities in family members’ relationships with Alzheimer's patients. Family Relations, 43 (1), 39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connolly, D., & O’Dowd, T. (2001). The impact of the different disabilities arising from head injury on the primary caregiver. The British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 64 (1), 41–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, J., Johnston, M., Robertson, C., Glidewell, L., Entwistle, V., Eccles, M.P., & Grimshaw, J. M. (2010). What is an adequate sample size? Operationalising data saturation for theory-based interview studies. Psychology and Health, 25 (10), 1229–45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gill, C.J., Sander, A.M., Robins, N., Mazzei, D., & Struchen, M.A. (2011). Exploring experiences of intimacy from the viewpoint of individuals with traumatic brain injury and their partners. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 26 (1), 5668.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Godwin, E., Chappell, B., & Kreutzer, J. (2014). Relationships after TBI: a grounded research study. Brain Injury, 28 (4), 398413.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gosling, J., & Oddy, M. (1999). Rearranged marriages: marital relationships after head injury. Brain Injury, 13 (10), 785–96.Google ScholarPubMed
Hammond, F.M., Davis, C.S., Whiteside, O.Y., Philbrick, P., & Hirsch, M.A. (2011). Marital adjustment and stability following traumatic brain injury: a pilot qualitative analysis of spouse perspectives. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 26 (1), 6978.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harris, J.K., Godfrey, H.P., Partridge, F.M., & Knight, R.G. (2001). Caregiver depression following traumatic brain injury (TBI): a consequence of adverse effects on family members? Brain Injury, 15 (3), 223–8.Google ScholarPubMed
Knight, R.G., Devereux, R., & Godfrey, H.P. (1998). Caring for a family member with a traumatic brain injury. Brain Injury, 12 (6), 467–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kreutzer, J.S., Gervasio, A.H., & Camplair, P.S. (1994). Patient correlates of caregivers’ distress and family functioning after traumatic brain injury. Brain Injury, 8 (3), 211–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Layman, D.E., Dijkers, M.P.J.M., & Ashman, T.A. (2005). Exploring the impact of traumatic brain injury on the older couple: ‘yes, but how much of it is age, I can't tell you. . .’. Brain Injury, 19 (11), 909–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marsh, N.V., Kersel, D.A., Havill, J.H., & Sleigh, J.W. (1998). Caregiver burden at 1 year following severe traumatic brain injury. Brain Injury, 12 (12), 1045–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McDonald, S. (2003). Traumatic brain injury and psychosocial function: let's get social. Brain Impairment, 4 (1), 3647.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDonald, S., Anderson, V., Ponsford, J., Tate, R., Togher, L, Morgan, A.,. . . Murdoch, B. (2012). Moving ahead: a new centre of research excellence in brain recovery, focusing on psychosocial reintegration following traumatic brain injury. Brain Impairment, 13 (2), 256–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKinlay, W.W., & Brooks, D.N. (1984). D.N. Methodological problems in assessing psychosocial recovery following severe head injury. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 6 (1), 8799.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minnes, P., Graffi, S., Nolte, M.L., Carlson, P., & Harrick, L. (2000). Coping and stress in Canadian family caregivers of persons with traumatic brain injuries. Brain Injury, 14 (8), 737–48.Google ScholarPubMed
Murray, J., & Livingston, G. (1998). A qualitative study of adjustment to caring for an older spouse with psychiatric illness. Ageing and Society, 18 (6), 659671.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oddy, M. (1995). He's no longer the same person: how families adjust to personality change after head injury. In Chamberlain, M.A., Neumann, V., & Tennant, A. (Eds.), Traumatic brain injury rehabilitation: services, treatments and outcomes (pp. 167–79). London: Chapman & Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peters, L.C., Stambrook, M., Moore, A.D., & Esses, L. (1990). Psychosocial sequelae of closed head injury: effects on the marital relationship. Brain Injury, 4 (1), 3947.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peters, L.C., Stambrook, M., Moore, A.D., Zubek, E., Dubo, H., & Blumenschein, S. (1992). Differential effects of spinal cord injury and head injury on marital adjustment. Brain Injury, 6 (5), 461–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Polkinghorne, D.E. (2005). Language and meaning: data collection in qualitative research. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52 (2), 137–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ponsford, J., Olver, J., Ponsford, M., & Nelms, R. (2003). Long-term adjustment of families following traumatic brain injury where comprehensive rehabilitation has been provided. Brain Injury, 17 (6), 453–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Riley, G.A. (2007). Stress and depression in family carers following traumatic brain injury: the influence of beliefs about difficult behaviours. Clinical Rehabilitation, 21 (1), 82–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Riley, G.A., Fisher, G., Hagger, B.F., Elliott, A., Le Serve, H., & Oyebode, J.R. (2013). The birmingham relationship continuity measure: the development and evaluation of a measure of the perceived continuity of spousal relationships in dementia. International Psychogeriatrics, 25 (2), 263–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ruston, A. (2007). Life after traumatic brain injury: the carer's trajectory. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 2 (3), 159–64.Google Scholar
Sander, A.M., Caroselli, J.S., High, W.M., Becker, C., Neese, L., & Scheibel, R. (2002). Relationship of family functioning to progress in a post-acute rehabilitation programme following traumatic brain injury. Brain Injury, 16 (8), 649–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, J.A., Flowers, P., & Larkin, M. (2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: theory, method and research. London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Thomsen, I.V. (1984). Late outcome of very severe blunt head trauma: a 10–15 year second follow-up. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 47 (3), 260–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walters, A.H., Oyebode, J.R., & Riley, G.A. (2010). The dynamics of continuity and discontinuity for women caring for a spouse with dementia. Dementia, 9 (2), 169–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weddell, R.A., & Leggett, J.A. (2006). Factors triggering relatives’ judgements of personality change after traumatic brain injury. Brain Injury, 20 (12), 1221–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wells, R., Dywan, J., & Dumas, J. (2005). Life satisfaction and distress in family caregivers as related to specific behavioural changes after traumatic brain injury. Brain Injury, 19 (13), 1105–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Willig, C. (2008). Introducing qualitative research in psychology. Maidenhead, UK: McGraw-Hill Publishing.Google Scholar
Wood, R.L. (2005). Waking up next to a stranger. The Psychologist, 18 (3), 138–40.Google Scholar
Wood, R.L., Liossi, C., & Wood, L. (2005). The impact of head injury neurobehavioural sequelae on personal relationships: preliminary findings. Brain Injury, 19 (10), 845–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yeates, G., Gracey, F., & McGrath, J.C. (2008). A biopsychosocial deconstruction of ‘personality change’ following acquired brain injury. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 18 (5–6), 566–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed