Christine S. Davis

Marital adjustment and stability following traumatic brain injury: a pilot qualitative analysis of spouse perspectives.

Background:Traumatic brain injury (TBI), causing various impairments and functional changes, may adversely impactmarital relationships. However, dynamics of the interactions that contribute to these marital difficulties are complex and poorlyunderstood. There has been little research on marital quality and stability in families of a person with TBI. Objective:Byidentifying themes of marital adjustment and stability, this qualitative exploratory study examines how a spouse who has experienced TBIaffects the marital relationship. Methods:Two gender-specific focus groups, each with 5 spouses of individuals living withthe effects of TBI, were conducted to collect data on marital interactions that were analyzed for themes related to marital adjustmentand stability. The data were analyzed using grounded theory, and then relational theories were applied as a framework for organizing themetacodes and concepts. Results:This study suggests that, after TBI, changes in family dynamics and the way spousesperceive those dynamics affect movement toward pulling together or pulling apart. Conclusion:Changes in spousalperceptions, interactions, responsibilities, and reactions to brain injury may impact marital stability and satisfaction. Further studyis warranted to better understand and determine whether and how awareness of these changes may be incorporated into treatment.

Sisters and Friends Dialogue and Multivocality in a Relational Model of Sibling Disability

This article takes the reader into a journey of family dynamics, as sisters— one with a physical impairment and the other the sibling of a woman with a physical impairment—try to sort out their feelings and experiences through in-depth interviewing, interactive interviewing, co-constructed narrative, and dialogic conversation. There is little research that looks at the relationship between the sibling with a disability and his or her nondisabled sibling as it is experienced by the two of them. This article engages the siblings, and, perhaps, the readers, into a dialogic conversation that is multivocal, inclusive, and accepting of differences.

Relational dimension of irritability following traumatic brain injury: A qualitative analysis

Background: Irritability is a common long-term sequelae of traumatic brain injury (TBI). In a prior study on TBI irritability, relational interactions were one of four dimensions of irritability occurrence and precipitation. This present analysis examines these same data in greater detail. Methods: Fifty focus group transcripts from a study on irritability were re-analysed to examine: (1) irritability in spousal relationships following TBI, (2) retrospective accounts of spousal interactions contributing to irritability and (3) impact of irritability on marital relationships. Grounded Theory was used to develop themes, metacodes and theories. Results: Several theories emerged regarding irritability with respect to spousal relations, all based on the overarching theory that irritability in people with TBI has a strong relational component involved in triggering, experiencing and preventing irritability. Sub-theories supporting this include: (1) irritability breeds further irritability, (2) spousal responses can trigger irritability among persons with TBI and vice versa, (3) difficulties making emotional connections may incite negative interactions, (4) expectations of others may contribute to irritable behaviour, and (5) communication breakdowns may provoke irritability. Conclusions: Irritability associated with TBI resides in the family system as well as the individual. In treating irritability one should include comprehensive assessment and assistance to improve interpersonal interactions.

Sylvia's Story: Narrative, Storytelling, and Power in a Children's Community Mental Health System of Care

This article, a story about a family with children with disabilities and the people who are helping them, shows the power of speaking in narratives, and the liberation of understanding in narratives. It looks at the issues of narrative truth, meaning, embodiment, believability, and empathy in the context of power, marginalization, and control. It illustrates that thinking through a narrative approach demarginalizes the Other and lets us form more equal connections through our joint life experiences.

A Conceptual Model of Irritability Following Traumatic Brain Injury: A Qualitative, Participatory Research Study.

Background:Individuals with a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) may have chronic problems with irritability, which can negatively affect their lives. Objectives:(1) To describe the experience (thoughts and feelings) of irritability from the perspectives of multiple people living with or affected by the problem, and (2) to develop a conceptual model of irritability. Design:Qualitative, participatory research. Participants:Forty-four stakeholders (individuals with a history of TBI, family members, community professionals, healthcare providers, and researchers) divided into 5 focus groups. Procedures:Each group met 10 times to discuss the experience of irritability following TBI. Data were coded using grounded theory to develop themes, metacodes, and theories. Measures:Not applicable. Results:A conceptual model emerged in which irritability has 5 dimensions: affective (related to moods and feelings); behavioral (especially in areas of self-regulation, impulse control, and time management); cognitive-perceptual (self-talk and ways of seeing the world); relational issues (interpersonal and family dynamics); and environmental (including environmental stimuli, change, disruptions in routine, and cultural expectations). Conclusions:This multidimensional model provides a framework for assessment, treatment, and future research aimed at better understanding irritability, as well as the development of assessment tools and treatment interventions.

Coping With Trauma Through Fictional Narrative Ethnography: A Primer

This article, written as a letter to the editor, is in response to Journal of Loss and Traumas original rejection of our fictional narrative autoethnography. We introduce this method and argue that our fictionalization of part of the narrative is not a departure from other narrative ethnographic work and serves several purposes relevant to JLT: It was therapeutic to the authors; it conveyed meaning that could not have been conveyed in a more traditional manner; it served as a metaphor for a resistance narrative against the culturally canonical story of suffering victim; and it provided a shared cultural story that allowed us to connect with many women in our generation. We suggest that narrative “truth” should be concerned with how the story is used and understood. We advocate that methods such as this give voice to stories that are difficult to tell and understand, and open spaces to reflect alternative ways of knowing.

A Funeral Liturgy: Death Rituals as Symbolic Communication

This performative ethnography pulls together ethnography, autoethnography, and interview accounts to explore and exemplify the liturgical and narrative symbolism inherent in funerals. Funerals are the ultimate in final stories. This article looks at funerals as a communicative event and addresses questions of the performative nature of funerals and the meaning and reality constructed by funerals. The author concludes with an argument for seeing funerals as an opportunity to bridge the liminal space between dead and alive and the sacred and the human, and to bring together the past, present, and future of the deceased and their “surviving” loved ones.

A Dialogue with (Un)Death: Horror Films as a Discursive Attempt to Construct a Relationship with the Dead

Death may be exiled from the living room as we no longer keep parlors as dedicated space for ritual goodbyes and communion with our shrouded dead, but banished death has reappeared with a vengeance in our books, kindled and original paper, and channeled through our home entertainment centers, allowing us to once more meet our nemesis on common ground. We suggest that death is a root metaphor in horror fiction, and we highlight how fictional works about the undead allow us to face death and relate to it, as they move us to look more closely at the alliance between living and dead, provide us with a tangible adversary at end-of-life, and enable us to approach death with dialogic intimacy, acknowledgment, courage, and acceptance.

Final Stories: The Ultimate Sensemaking Frame

This autoethnographic examination of family stories my mother told prior to her death explores the use of family narratives to frame and make sense of our lives. Family storytelling is a joint construction of reality in an intermingling of lives in which it is hard to separate the “me” from the “us.” End-of-life stories are the ultimate in retrospective sensemaking. When this end-of-life sensemaking takes place communally, negotiated between family members, framing and sensemaking take on a new dimension. This paper shows that final stories serve specific sensemaking functions—revising familial boundaries, framing our lives, creating shared meaning and identity, and enhancing relationships. Ultimately, final stories create continuity between the past and the present. Understanding our family stories helps us understand ourselves.

Constructing the dead: Retrospective sensemaking in eulogies

ABSTRACT Eulogies serve a sensemaking function of identity construction—both for the deceased and for the survivors. This work examines the communicative construction of identity in eulogies and shows how eulogia discourse affirms and reconstructs our relational identity through communication. The article extends scholarship on eulogies by using relational communication theories to investigate how eulogic discourse functions as identity construction, considering eulogies of ordinary people, and exploring the gendered nature of eulogies. We discuss how eulogies are specific ritualized forms of communication in which the bereaved focus on self-identity as they articulate their experience of grief.