An exploration of the post-intensive rehabilitation care of young adults with severe acquired brain injury

Purpose: To explore the process of providing post-intensive rehabilitation care for young adults who are unable to perform or direct their own care following severe acquired brain injury (ABI). Method: Paid carers who were providing post-intensive rehabilitation care for young adults following severe ABI were interviewed. Five hundred and six minutes of interview data was analysed using grounded theory methods. Results: This study unveils the inter-relationship of care provided in terms of body, personalising and humanising care and the centrality of compassion in these processes. It reveals that personal care is about more than tasks being completed by one person for another. Furthermore, the ways in which paid carers find out about care recipients and the relationship of these activities to activating the person illustrates the contribution of paid carers in residential aged care to life-long rehabilitation. Conclusion: By nurturing the efforts of paid carers to have and show compassion there is less chance that complex care will be reduced to a series of tasks which are done by one person to another with little regard for a person’s preferences and individual needs. Discussion of the personal and technical aspects of care recognises and validates the life-long, rehabilitative contribution of paid carers.