Developing the 'Life Threads' approach to support families after traumatic brain injury in UK community settings: protocol for a qualitative prefeasibility study.

Introduction: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) brings about inevitable and significant changes for family members. Mental health effects for family members are well documented but there are significant gaps in support options across services. Here, we describe our protocol for a study that seeks to investigate the potential for a narrative, creative approach, the 'Life Threads' approach, as a low intensity, accessible means of support that can be applied across service contexts.

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

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.

Helping families thrive in the face of uncertainty: Strengths based approaches to working with families affected by progressive neurological illness.

Background: Management of the uncertainty inherent in a diagnosis of a progressive neurological illness is one of the major adjustment tasks facing those affected and their families. A causal relationship has been demonstrated between perceived illness uncertainty and negative psychological outcomes for individuals with progressive neurological illness. Whilst there is a small and promising intervention literature on the use of a range of individually focused strengths based psychological interventions there appears to be little guidance available how clinicians might help those family members of those affected.

The experience of being a parent with an acquired brain injury (ABI) as an inpatient at a neuro-rehabilitation centre, 0-2 years post-injury.

Primary Objective: Little research has been conducted exploring the issues surrounding parenting with an acquired brain injury (ABI). This study aimed to explore the experiences and needs of parents who suffered an ABI in the last 2 years from their own perspectives. For individuals with an ABI who have dependent children their ABI has the potential to impact upon their parenting abilities, skills and relationships.

Including children in family-focused acquired brain injury rehabilitation: a national survey of rehabilitation staff practice.

Objective: To establish whether rehabilitation staff work regularly with child relatives of adults with acquired brain injury to involve them in their family member's rehabilitation. To explore factors influencing rehabilitation staff's decisions about involving child relatives.

Design: A cross-sectional postal survey design was used for the main study.