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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Substance Use Disorders and Behavioral Addictions
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1397428
This article is part of the Research Topic Alcohol-Related Brain Injury: Diagnosis, Treatment, and Rehabilitation View all 4 articles

Exploring the Experiences of Resident and Their Families in an Alcohol-Related Brain Injury Residential Rehabilitation Unit in Northern Ireland: A Qualitative Study

Provisionally accepted
Anne Campbell Anne Campbell 1*Sharon Millen Sharon Millen 1Uisce jORDAN Uisce jORDAN 2Diane Watson Diane Watson 3Roger McCorry Roger McCorry 4
  • 1 Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
  • 2 University of York, York, United Kingdom
  • 3 Leonard Chesire foundation, Belfast, United Kingdom
  • 4 Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Belfast, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Brain Injury (ARBI). Exploring the impact of a rehabilitation service on individuals with ARBI and their relatives/caregivers, this study aimed to gain insights into their experiences and assess how the service influenced cognitive functioning, psychological well-being, social relationships, community engagement, and the desire for abstinence.This was a qQualitative, semi structured interview study as part of a larger mixed methods study of with resident andresidents and their family members. Data was collected over 4 timepoints with n= 20 residents: baseline (n=20 interviews), 6 months (n=15 interviews), 12 months (n=6 interviews ) and at discharge (n=8 interviews ). The interviews took place at a specialist residential rehabilitation facility for people with ARBI.. Remote interviews were conducted with family members (n=10). A thematic analysis of transcripts using NVivo software was undertaken.Qualitative findings for residents with ARBI across 4 timepoints from baseline to time of discharge indicated an improvement in all outcomes. Overall, residents reported that the ARBI holistic intervention significantly improved psychological wellbeing, social relationships/community participation, functioning abilities, and abstinence from alcohol, particularly when residents were residing in the unit. Family members and carers presented more trepidation regarding the long-term impacts.Whilst the residential unit provided structure and a protective environment, residents required ongoing support post discharge for their addictive behaviours. An outreach intervention for these individuals is currently being piloted.

    Keywords: Alcohol related brain injury, Qualitative, Service user views, worker views, Rehaabilitation unit

    Received: 07 Mar 2024; Accepted: 22 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Campbell, Millen, jORDAN, Watson and McCorry. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Anne Campbell, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.