Support of families with higher-order brain dysfunction:

Changing how family members identify disabilities

Abstract

We examined changes in how to identify disabilities by families of patients with higher brain dysfunction and investigated ways of supporting family members. A modified grounded-theory approach after unstructured interviews with 15 family members was used. As a result, seven categories and 18 concepts were extracted. Families begin to face their own emotions and thoughts while showing “anxiety resulting from comparison with pre-illness” and “puzzled responses to higher brain dysfunction”. “Family insight and awareness of the subject's higher brain dysfunction” advanced leading to a feeling and action on the prospects for life after discharge, so the families themselves can create strategies to live after discharge.