Breaking the news of traumatic brain injury and incapacities.
OBJECTIVE
This paper presents research results regarding disclosure of traumatic brain injury (TBI) diagnosis and resulting deficits of a study aiming to investigate the experiences of individuals who had sustained a TBI, their families, the physicians and health professionals involved, from the critical care episodes and subsequent rehabilitation.


METHODS
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals who had sustained a TBI (n = 8) and their families (n = 8) as well as with the health professionals (or service providers) (n = 22) and physicians (n = 9) who provided them care.


RESULTS
Results revealed that the quality of the disclosure is strongly influenced by the medical uncertainty surrounding the TBI and the difficulties of healthcare professionals in dealing with the family's emotions.


CONCLUSIONS
Delivering bad news is always difficult, but it is possible to make this harrowing experience easier and, in so doing, enhance patient and family resilience.
Lefebvre
Hélène
H
Faculty of Nursing, Unversity of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. helene.lefebvre@umontreal.ca
Levert
Marie Josée
MJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014342:Truth Disclosure