ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

The Impact on Parents of Adolescence with a Life Threatening Brain Injury

The Impact on Parents of Adolescence with a Life Threatening Brain Injury

Introduction

It has been recognized that traumatic brain injuries not only affect the individuals but also the people around them i.e. their family. Individual with the severe brain injury can place both financial and emotional burdens on their family, for adolescents it is usually their parents. These injuries may impact the parents of such adolescents in different terms such as increasing emotional stress, financial burdens, and guilt or about the survival of their child (Wenden et al., 1996, pp. 1253-63). Many researchers have been conducted to assess how these injuries affect the victims but there is a need to examine how head injuries in adolescents may impact the financial status, level of stress and general and psychological health of their parents.

Literature Review

Severe head injuries may become life threatening for the bearers and such injuries are called Traumatic brain injury. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a worldwide health problem affecting adults and children alike. About a million people in the United Kingdom come into hospital with a head injury each year. The more recent collected data shows that about 229 per 100000 people were admitted in England for head injuries between the years of 2001-2005 (Tennant, 2005, pp. 521-525). On the other hand the serious head injuries in UK are estimated to have an incidence rate of 52 people per 100000. This increasing number of severe or traumatic head injuries among adolescents also increases the need to study its impacts on parents of such people (Hawley et al. 2003, pp. 1-23). Researches (Wenden et al., 1996, pp. 1253-63) show that the primary care givers that are parent's experiences greater stress and also psychosocial results than other caregivers. Studies have also argues that stress may also impair the abilities of parents to adjust with new and substantial demands of the injured child which in return effect their abilities to provide them with structured and calm environment for child' recovery (Hawley et al. 2003, pp. 1-23). There are varieties of difficulties that parents of injured adolescents may face:

They may feel guilt of such an accident and for the thought they could have done more to save their child.

They may blame the significant other - spouse - whose carelessness caused such an injury.

Stress and despair for being not coping with such an adolescent along with the anxieties about their future.

A feel of hopelessness may prevail for not knowing enough about the problems and mechanisms of the injury.

They may feel tired to make their children competitive through excessive physical activities.

Medications and other interventions may dramatically change the financial situation of the family which leads to tensions among other family members.

Parents of adolescents with traumatic brain injury have to deal with number of problems their children may come through after such an accident (Holcomb et al. 2010, pp. 1-3). Such changes may include cognitive impairments which includes long-term or short ...