Researchware

Charles Edmund Degeneffe and Marjorie F. Olney utilized HyperRESEARCH for their study entitled "'We are the forgotten victims': Perspectives of adult siblings of persons with traumatic brain injury".

Appearing in Brain Injury 2010, Vol. 24, No. 12 : Pages 1416-1427, the "study determined how the lives of a cross-national sample of adult siblings had changed since their brothers and sisters incurred a traumatic brain injury. A total of 272 participants provided responses to the question, 'How is your life different since your sibling had a TBI?' Responses were analysed through the constant comparative method of textual analysis. Responses were collected through a mailed-survey. The analysed question appeared at the end of a 243-item quantitatively-based survey containing five open-ended questions. Three themes emerged: (1) 'Family impacts' such as growing up with a sibling with TBI and impact on family closeness; (2) 'Caring' including caring for and about the family member; and (3) 'Making sense of the experience' through adjustment and personal development. The study demonstrates that having a sibling with a TBI can result in profound and enduring negative and positive life changes for non-injured siblings. Professionals need to attend to the needs of siblings for support and guidance and should be considered as key informants about their injured family members during intake and service planning." The paper can be accessed here.