A qualitative exploration of fatherhood after acquired brain injury (ABI)

Abstract

Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) significantly affects individuals across multiple areas of intimate, familial, and parental domains. Gender and identity are pivotal research areas in navigating life after ABI. To date, scant research has explored gendered experiences, particularly those related to the masculine lifeworld. This study aimed to explore how men who were fathers before their injuries experience fatherhood after ABI. An Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) methodology was used, and seven fathers participated in the semi-structured interviews (time since injury 1-18 years, age range 27-66 years) which explored their meaning-making. Four superordinate themes were drawn from all interviews through engaging with the qualitative research process: (1) what being a father means, (2) altered relationships with others, (3) becoming lost and finding their way through, and (4) renewed fatherhood. The findings show intersectionality between pre-and post-injury comparisons of self and social identities, alongside the contextual and societal identities in the subjective fathering experiences. Through increased understanding, we may enable fathers to find new ways to resolve, reformulate, and connect to move into their future possible fatherhood. The importance of this research is in giving voice to these less represented men so that we may shape our understanding to aid future fathers post-ABI.

(Re)constructing identity following acquired brain injury: The complex journey of recovery after stroke

“…They highlight the relevance of engagement in interaction and in the definition of new roles and strategies that include the biological body and make it a relational body. 21,[49][50][51] These findings show the potential of narrative analysis and positioning with respect to the construction of identity and the relationship between psychology and neurology. Moreover, they can help differentiate narratives that can facilitate rehabilitation and/or the construction of new roles and promote the overall health from narratives that lock and immobilize the person in his or her impairment.…”

“…Moreover, the positionings regarding relations with different people have emerged as particularly relevant: caregivers, health professionals and the generalized other. They highlight the relevance of engagement in interaction and in the definition of new roles and strategies that include the biological body and make it a relational body 21,49–51 …”

“…18,19 Despite this, some of the most enduring changes after ABI related to the subjective experience of the body, self and identity and to the relationships. [19][20][21][22][23][24] Relational approaches to identity have also emerged recently in neuropsychology and in the rehabilitation literature. Cloute et al, 25 through a discursive approach, have underlined the need to focus on how people with ABI are positioned and identified, for example, in a medical community (e.g., patient-expert, abnormal-normal, sick-healthy), understanding the implications of this on how a person understands himself.…”

“…The complex psychosocial implications of an ABI are well documented, but how that injury impacts on identity and what this means to the adult remains relatively unexplored 18,19 . Despite this, some of the most enduring changes after ABI related to the subjective experience of the body, self and identity and to the relationships 19–24 …”

“… 18 , 19 Despite this, some of the most enduring changes after ABI related to the subjective experience of the body, self and identity and to the relationships. 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 …”