"Your son is for life" : a phenomenological study into mothers' experience of caring for their son injured in combat

Aim Using semi-structured interviews and IPA, explore mothers’ experiences of wellbeing during the different phases of their sons’ recovery and rehabilitation Background This thesis reports on the deleterious effect on six mothers’ wellbeing as a result of their son’s traumatic combat injury during deployment to Afghanistan between 2008-2009. Method/ Methodology Six mothers were recruited to the study by purposive sampling. The mothers were interviewed on 2 occasions using a semi-structured interview schedule. Analysis adhered to an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach, which seeks to uncover the meanings of participants descriptions of their lived experiences. Each mother’s transcript was analysed separately to reflect the idiographic element of IPA. Three superordinate themes emerged from the cross-case analysis of the mothers’ narratives: “The stressful event unfolds”, “The support of others”, “Life after the stressful event. ” The emergence of a dialogue between my interpretations of the mothers phenomena and psychological concepts found in the extant literature, provided a link between the mothers lived experiences and Attachment Theory, Coping Theory, Social Suppport Theory and the Myth of Motherhood. Findings A son’s Traumatic Combat Injury has the potential to impact on the relationship between mother and son during the son’s recovery and rehabilitation. Mothers who had a close relationship with their son called upon a range of adaptive coping strategies to help them mitigate the stressors they encountered during their son’s recovery and rehabilitation. Support of family and friends was helpful to the mothers who had a close relationship with their son, depending on the mothers’ coping strategies, predispositions towards motherhood and the quality of the relationship with their son. Mothers who had a poor relationship with their son and daughter-in-law demonstrated withdrawal from the relationship, maladaptive coping strategies and relied less upon the support of family and social networks. Contribution to knowledge of the subject This is the first study to examine the impact on a mother’s wellbeing whose adult son has been traumatically injured in combat. The relationship between mother and son and the type of coping strategies called upon by mothers who adopt a caring role should be heeded. It is recommended that running concurrently with a son’s recovery and rehabilitation programme, all mothers should receive emotional support from a counsellor who specialises in psychodynamic family therapy. Drawing upon attachment and coping theory will enable the counsellor to identify the psychosocial stressors associated with caring for their injured son and concomitantly lead the counsellor to an earlier treatment strategy and level of support appropriate to the mother’s needs. Additionally, medical staff at role 4 of the son’s care-pathway should receive interpersonal skills training to maximise the emotional support they provide to mothers and other family members during a son’s recovery in hospital. Army Welfare Staff should also be familiarised with the findings of this study so that they are equipped to support the emotional and instrumental needs of mothers adjusting to their son’s traumatic injuries during their initial recovery in hospital. Mothers would also benefit from being signposted to the Armed Forces charity Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) , who provide specific support to family members of wounded, injured or sick (WIS) service personnel.