M.A. / This investigation aims to address and explore the experience of sibling head injury which appears to have been largely neglected in research. It seeks those themes, emotions and thoughts which are central and significant to the sibling's experience. it explores the manner in which the event of sibling head injury is incorporated into the adolescent's emerging identity, sense of self and understanding of the world. Overall, this research aims to provide some understanding of what the experience of living with a head-injured sibling entails and the personal meaning it holds for adolescent siblings. The existential-phenomenological system of inquiry is employed as a mode of research in an effort to study this experience of adolescent siblings of head-injured persons. Siblings are understood as beings-in-the-world who coconstitute their realities and interpret and act upon their own existence. Qualitative access to this subjective realm or individual lifeworld of siblings, is attempted through a qualitative design, where rich data is collected through in-depth, open-ended interviews which facilitate unique and personal descriptions. Eight siblings of an adolescent or young adult age, were sourced through Headway and interviewed for the purpose of this study. The 'Adolescent Coping Scale' was administered to gain further qualitative information which could be incorporated into a greater understanding of sibling coping under such circumstances. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim, providing the database from which intraindividual analyses and discussions were conducted on each participant. Only three of the original eight participants were selected for the purposes of in-depth analysis and final inclusion in the study, for reasons of manageability and research size. These participants were selected on the basis of their rich and varied descriptions. The analyses rendered an understanding of each sibling's perceptions, cognitive conflicts and emotional experience, while an inter-individual analysis of the accounts permitted an exploration of contrasting themes and emerging patterns. An integration of the research data revealed the complexity and ambiguities inherent in the sibling experience of head injury, and the long-term nature of such a phenomenon. This phenomenon was found to be characterised by much change and feelings of loss, by a pervasive sense of helplessness accompanied by anger and depression, by feelings of abandonment and of being alone in their experience. Such themes confirmed many of those explicated in the literature review. However, the research findings also suggest a sense of being overwhelmed by threatening emotions, a strong reliance on avoidance coping, and a specific complexity inherent in the sibling experience, which creates a challenging experience which is long-term and for some, may be perceived as getting worse over time. The value of this research lies primarily in the neuropsychological field of family interventions and rehabilitation. It is hoped that the in-depth description of the experience of ado!escent siblings of head injury, presented here, can promote a greater understanding of this experience, and facilitate the establishment of appropriate interventions which focus on the provision of much-needed education and support. It is also hoped that this understanding can assist in raising awareness of the stressful and long-term nature of such a phenomenon, in schools and universities, among peers, facilitators, counsellors - those who have daily contact with adolescents. It is proposed that future research explores those aspects of the sibling experience which mediate its nature, dynamics and severity. Studies investigating the role played by race, culture and religion, gender and age, as well as those which focus on the long-term consequences of such a phenomenon, are likely to facilitate a deeper and more in-depth understanding of the experience of sibling head injury.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:3175 |
| Date | 27 August 2012 |
| Creators | Price, Jacqueline |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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