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Abstract

This dissertation explores the lived lives of individuals suffering from mild traumatic brain injuries and compares their experiences to what the academic research are saying. With the specific focus on how their social lives might have changed from the moment of their injury to the times that follows by. This is a topic that academia has failed to acknowledge although data has suggested that mild traumatic brain injury is one of the more common injuries in the United Kingdom. This research will therefore investigate the medical perception, the public assumption and the sufferer’s knowledge and see if there is any overlap or gaps. This will be done with the hopes to answer the following questions; to what extent mild traumatic brain injury is considered as a disability, how does mild traumatic brain injury shape an individual’s interpersonal relationships with friends, family or colleagues, and to what degree is mTBI considered a disability by medical professionals and sufferers.
The collection of data was done through academic papers and grey literature such as forum posts. The chosen research philosophy was qualitative interpretivism approach that relied on secondary data. The data was then thematically analysed and the themes that emerged was arranged by frequency of occurrence. These has been presented as the `findings`.
This dissertation recognises that the results does not reflect the representation of the wider population due to the limitations of data. However, the main findings of this dissertation found that mTBI is not fully evaluated as a disabling injury and therefore the society’s approach to the sufferers is that their condition is exaggerated or less important than other disabilities. To continue, findings also suggest that mTBI has a clear impact on the interpersonal relationships with friends, family or colleagues. Finally, findings also indicates that mTBI is considered harmful, but it is rarely considered a long-term disability by the medical professionals, but it is by the sufferers.

Course: Sociology with Pyschology - BSc (Hons) - C1509

Date Deposited: 2024-01-30

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis14330.html