Emotional Labour of Caregivers Confronted With Aggressive Brain-injured Patients.

Background: Aggressive behaviours are common with people who have suffered brain injuries and induce difficult emotions among certified nursing assistants and medical-psychological assistants who take care of them. These caregivers carry out emotional labour whose content and strategies are little known.

Aim: The study explores the emotional labour of certified nursing assistants and medical-psychological assistants faced with the aggressive behaviours of brain-injured patients.

Explain the 'unexplainable': A qualitative enquiry of the representations of the caregivers of brain-injured people.

The aim of our research is to highlight the role of social representations of the traumatic brain-injured person in the adjustments made by caregivers in building and maintaining quality of care. Twenty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted with nursing assistants and medico-psychological assistants, working in a long-term care facility. The interviews were the subject of a thematic content analysis.