Adolescent Response to Parental Traumatic Brain Injury and Ambiguous Loss

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Leach, W. (2021). Adolescent Response to Parental Traumatic Brain Injury and Ambiguous Loss. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

Parental traumatic brain injury (TBI-P) and the effect it has on adolescents living in the home has been mostly avoided in the current literature. Even more rare in the literature is the idea of ambiguous loss, coined by Boss (1991). An ambiguous loss refers to a loss of someone who has not died, but who is also not the same person as before the injury, physically or mentally. Consequently, the loss is unclear and requires constant recalibration by the uninjured family members to accept their ever-changing injured family member. Together, no researcher has ever studied ambiguous loss as it relates to TBI-P. This study focused on three research questions: Research Question 1: As it pertains to TBI-P, what is the influence of ambiguous loss when experienced during adolescence? Research Question 2: When TBI-P is experienced in adolescence, how does the perception of ambiguous loss result in tangible consequences later in life? Research Question 3: In what ways do adolescents experiencing ambiguous loss from TBI-P describe their family, self, and situation?  Using a qualitative approach, this phenomenological dissertation found four primary findings. First, adolescents can experience feelings of ambiguous loss. Second, the time since the injury can affect the severity of feelings of ambiguous loss in adolescents with older participants reporting more feelings of loss. Third, adolescents can experience tangible outcomes as they relate to TBI-P during their adolescence and into adulthood. Finally, ambiguous loss can affect the self-perception of adolescents.

Details
Author

Leach, William

Title

Adolescent Response to Parental Traumatic Brain Injury and Ambiguous Loss

Physical Description

1 online resource (240 pages) : PDF

Date

2021

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

Parental traumatic brain injury (TBI-P) and the effect it has on adolescents living in the home has been mostly avoided in the current literature. Even more rare in the literature is the idea of ambiguous loss, coined by Boss (1991). An ambiguous loss refers to a loss of someone who has not died, but who is also not the same person as before the injury, physically or mentally. Consequently, the loss is unclear and requires constant recalibration by the uninjured family members to accept their ever-changing injured family member. Together, no researcher has ever studied ambiguous loss as it relates to TBI-P. This study focused on three research questions: Research Question 1: As it pertains to TBI-P, what is the influence of ambiguous loss when experienced during adolescence? Research Question 2: When TBI-P is experienced in adolescence, how does the perception of ambiguous loss result in tangible consequences later in life? Research Question 3: In what ways do adolescents experiencing ambiguous loss from TBI-P describe their family, self, and situation?  Using a qualitative approach, this phenomenological dissertation found four primary findings. First, adolescents can experience feelings of ambiguous loss. Second, the time since the injury can affect the severity of feelings of ambiguous loss in adolescents with older participants reporting more feelings of loss. Third, adolescents can experience tangible outcomes as they relate to TBI-P during their adolescence and into adulthood. Finally, ambiguous loss can affect the self-perception of adolescents.

Genre

doctoral dissertations

Subjects--Topics

Education

Degree

Ph.D.

Keywords

Adolescent Response To Stress
Parental Traumatic Brain Injury
Trauma-Informed Teaching Practices
Traumatic Brain Injury

Subject Area

Curriculum & Instruction

Advisor(s)

Polly, Drew
Washburn, Erin

Committee Members

Jugan, Jessica
Demakis, George
Jones, Jeanneine

Degree Note

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2021.

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Rights Holder Information

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Identifier

Leach_uncc_0694D_12934

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:2727