Hidden loss: A qualitative explorative study of children living with a parent with acquired brain injury

Abstract

The findings indicated that the children seemed to make a special effort to hide their feelings of loss and grief in order to protect the ill parent. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the traumatic process of parental ABI that some children experience and emphasize the importance of family-centred interventions that include the children.

A qualitative study of the emotional coping and support needs of children living with a parent with a brain injury

“…What are the particular stresses and difficult emotions faced by children in this population? This question is complicated because it is clear from the 3 literature that many children in this group find it very difficult to talk about their negative emotions and that there is some denial, ambiguity, and "hidden" loss [1][2]8].…”

“…There is evidence that there are increases in sadness, anger, and worrying [2], and post-traumatic stress symptoms [3], but also that there are difficulties in coping with contradictory emotions, for example, confusing mixtures of love, anger and sadness [8]. Other themes that have emerged from qualitative interviews include fear of losing the injured parent [2], a sense of social isolation [8], fears of family disintegration, and coping with increased aggression from the injured parent [1].…”

“…However, little is known about the coping strategies used by children in this population and whether or not they are successful. Kieffer-Kristenson & Johansen [2] reported five coping strategies used by a sample of fourteen 7-14 year olds with a parent with a brain injury: distraction, helping others, independence, backing out of overwhelming situations, and being positive, but it is unclear how effective these strategies were. The most commonly used was distraction (e.g.…”

“…Although social support is known to be important for families after head injury [12], previous research has found that children in this population are reluctant to reach out for support beyond their immediate family [1]. For example, Kieffer-Kristensen & Johansen [2] found that the primary support used by children was the parent not affected by ABI, followed by siblings and grandparents. Although many had been offered support from teachers, most said they did not take this up as they didn't want to be treated differently and didn't think that teachers really understood their situation.…”

“…There is a small but growing literature on the psychological effects of parental brain injury on children [1][2][3][4][5]. It is known that having a parent with acquired brain injury is a stressor that can be associated with increased symptoms of depression [5], posttraumatic stress [3], and behavioural problems [4] in children, and that these problems are partly mediated by poorer relationships with both the injured and the non-injured parent [4][5].…”