The life course implications of youth -onset traumatic brain injury in youth and early adulthood
Item
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Title
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The life course implications of youth -onset traumatic brain injury in youth and early adulthood
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:34d96ca4cc1a:10295
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identifier
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10229
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Creator
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Slota, Nina P.,
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Contributor
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Herbert D. Saltzstein
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Date
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2009
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Developmental psychology | disability studies | life course | traumatic brain injury
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Abstract
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Traditionally, long-term outcome studies of individuals with disabilities followed a medical model, in which impairments were seen as physical or cognitive deficits, relatively independent of socio-cultural or developmental contexts. However, this medical model leads to an incomplete understanding of the individuals' lived experiences and development. In contrast, typically, life course theories, characterized individuals' lives in relationship to these contexts, but usually did not focus on individuals with disabilities. Since adolescence-onset traumatic brain injury (TBI) or spinal cord injury (SCI) may result in changes in physical and/or cognitive functioning which may interact with development and socio-cultural context, interviews with individuals with or without disabilities may disentangle some of these issues. This study bridged a gap between medical outcome studies and life course theory, by examining how people narrated their lives and their impairments/disabilities.;The life story narratives of individuals with TBI were compared to the narratives of individuals with traumatic SCI. To highlight the impact of traumatic medical injury on the life course, individuals with no known disability (NKD) also participated. Using qualitative methods, the life-stories were examined for typical and non-typical life course elements, narrative evaluations, and injury/disability stories. Individuals also created a personal time-line and answered the Personal Opinions Questionnaire (Bolton & Brookings, 1998). Since the data were oral, and individuals with TBI may have linguistic impairments, linguistic comparisons on the life stories were done. Another source of linguistic data included a short, verbal fluency task. Participants were also given the Brain Injury Screening Questionnaire (Gordon, Brown, & Hibbard, 1997).;Sixteen participants, between the ages of 18 and 49 volunteered. Individuals with injuries were injured between the ages of 14 and 24. Individuals with NKD were matched to the TBI sample as much as possible on gender, age, ethnicity, language background, and education. This design permitted the exploration of the narrative and socio-cultural contexts of individual development which enabled a more complex, less decontextualized and less exclusively medicalized understanding of the lives of individuals with disabilities. Given the current emphasis on person-centered planning, this understanding may, in turn, be used to inform service delivery and outcomes measurement.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
