Irish report on the impact of acquired brain injury published

26 Feb 2015

This report, titled "Barriers and facilitators to developing natural community supports as a basis for independent living: the experiences and perceptions of people with acquired brain injury", gives the findings of research conducted by researchers from the School of Nursing and Midwifery University and the School of Applied Social Studies, University  College Cork.   This research was funded by the National Disability Authority under the Research Promotion Grants Scheme.

This study found that natural community supports were comprised of two distinct groupings; firstly immediate families, friends and peer support groups; secondly neighbours and local community groups such as sporting and activity- based organisations and groups.

Living with acquired brain injury involves a process where the person moves from acute high intensity health services onto rehabilitative services and then onto re-establishing independent lives Fundamental to the recovery is the support of immediate family and close friends, who form people’s immediate natural support network and go a long way towards facilitating individuals in rebuilding their lives.  A key finding of this study is that broader natural community supports do not appear to play as central a role in supporting individuals to live independent lives when compared to the role of family and friends. The lack of involvement of broader community groups, in many ways, prompted individuals to contact formal support services. For the majority of participants, independence is facilitated through the combination of immediate natural community supports and formal services.

http://nda.ie/Policy-and-research/Research/Research-publications/Living-with-an-acquired-brain-injury/

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