DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.28309122
title: Finding a “NEW VOICE to tell my story” through the Unmasking Brain Injury project: a mixed-method analysis of wellness after brain injury

description: This study aimed to explore the narratives of people with acquired brain injury (ABI) who participated in the Unmasking Brain Injury project. Through this inquiry, the multifaceted nature of wellbeing after ABI was described in the narratives, which were characterized by identifying facilitators and barriers to overall wellness. A mixed-methods approach was utilized for this study. Narratives from people with ABI (<i>n</i> = 1019) that had been uploaded to a public database were analyzed in three phases: (1) document-level content analysis, (2) communication unit (c-unit) content analysis based on Dimensions of Wellness, and (3) c-unit and full narrative aggregate sentiment analysis. People with ABI used their narratives to share with others and engage in personal reflection. Narratives had c-units related to all areas of wellness, but primarily emotional, spiritual, physical, social, cognitive, and, to a lesser extent, occupational and recreational. Facilitators of wellness included spiritual, social, and recreational health, while barriers to wellness included physical, cognitive, and emotional health. Emotional health was also identified as mixed, emphasizing the challenge of pursuing wellness post-ABI. Narrative storytelling through mask-making can offer an avenue for identifying concrete examples of a person with ABIs’ experience, goals, strengths, and weaknesses. Mask-making provides a context to facilitate the generation of narrative storytelling to then make invisible injuries, as acquired brain injury is often referred to, visible.Narrative storytelling provides education and advocacy for an outward audience, as well as a modality of personal reflection of the pervasiveness of acquired brain injury on a person’s life, including positive, negative, and mixed experiences.People with acquired brain injury can benefit from holistic rehabilitation approaches that emphasize meaningful contributions and engagement, as well as supports for addressing positive personal growth and reflection.Using accessible and person-centered approaches, such as narrative storytelling, can lead to better understand the lived experience and have the potential to facilitate greater wellness after acquired brain injury. Mask-making provides a context to facilitate the generation of narrative storytelling to then make invisible injuries, as acquired brain injury is often referred to, visible. Narrative storytelling provides education and advocacy for an outward audience, as well as a modality of personal reflection of the pervasiveness of acquired brain injury on a person’s life, including positive, negative, and mixed experiences. People with acquired brain injury can benefit from holistic rehabilitation approaches that emphasize meaningful contributions and engagement, as well as supports for addressing positive personal growth and reflection. Using accessible and person-centered approaches, such as narrative storytelling, can lead to better understand the lived experience and have the potential to facilitate greater wellness after acquired brain injury.