{"title":"Experiences of Acquired Brain Injury as Expressed Through Mask-Making: A Qualitative Analysis.","authors":"Sarah Kaytlyn Gregory, Amy M Kemp","doi":"10.1044/2024_AJSLP-23-00381","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Acquired brain injury (ABI) extends beyond the immediate aftermath, and understanding individual experience of ABI is paramount to providing effective support mechanisms. This study examined how people with ABI used mask-making to engage in self-expression.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Publicly available data from the Unmasking Brain Injury Project website, an advocacy group for people with ABI, were analyzed. A qualitative approach with hybrid inductive/deductive analysis was used to explore how people with ABI use art to express their emotional experiences of ABI.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In total, 1,049 masks had narratives describing the visual components and meaning in the associated masks. Three major themes emerged: the multiplicity of experiences after ABI, including positive, negative, and mixed outcomes; the expression of emotional pain and living with loss through art; and the importance of positivity, purpose, and faith in the experience with ABI. <i>Multiplicity</i> was the central expression represented in the masks. The most commonly represented emotional experiences were: <i>emotional pain and living with loss</i> and <i>positivity, purpose,</i> and <i>faith</i>. The masks incorporated literal depictions of the ABI, visual metaphors, and intentional use of colors and shapes for self-expression.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These results support previous findings that emotional experiences after ABI are complex and often interlaced with several emotions. The most prominent feelings include emotional pain and living with loss, and positivity, purpose, and faith. Mask-making may be a particularly appropriate method for people with ABI to process or express emotional experiences, as well as to provide clinicians with visual records of sense of self, coping, or progress.</p>","PeriodicalId":49240,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_AJSLP-23-00381","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/8/17 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"AUDIOLOGY & SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose: Acquired brain injury (ABI) extends beyond the immediate aftermath, and understanding individual experience of ABI is paramount to providing effective support mechanisms. This study examined how people with ABI used mask-making to engage in self-expression.
Method: Publicly available data from the Unmasking Brain Injury Project website, an advocacy group for people with ABI, were analyzed. A qualitative approach with hybrid inductive/deductive analysis was used to explore how people with ABI use art to express their emotional experiences of ABI.
Results: In total, 1,049 masks had narratives describing the visual components and meaning in the associated masks. Three major themes emerged: the multiplicity of experiences after ABI, including positive, negative, and mixed outcomes; the expression of emotional pain and living with loss through art; and the importance of positivity, purpose, and faith in the experience with ABI. Multiplicity was the central expression represented in the masks. The most commonly represented emotional experiences were: emotional pain and living with loss and positivity, purpose, and faith. The masks incorporated literal depictions of the ABI, visual metaphors, and intentional use of colors and shapes for self-expression.
Conclusions: These results support previous findings that emotional experiences after ABI are complex and often interlaced with several emotions. The most prominent feelings include emotional pain and living with loss, and positivity, purpose, and faith. Mask-making may be a particularly appropriate method for people with ABI to process or express emotional experiences, as well as to provide clinicians with visual records of sense of self, coping, or progress.
期刊介绍:
Mission: AJSLP publishes peer-reviewed research and other scholarly articles on all aspects of clinical practice in speech-language pathology. The journal is an international outlet for clinical research pertaining to screening, detection, diagnosis, management, and outcomes of communication and swallowing disorders across the lifespan as well as the etiologies and characteristics of these disorders. Because of its clinical orientation, the journal disseminates research findings applicable to diverse aspects of clinical practice in speech-language pathology. AJSLP seeks to advance evidence-based practice by disseminating the results of new studies as well as providing a forum for critical reviews and meta-analyses of previously published work.
Scope: The broad field of speech-language pathology, including aphasia; apraxia of speech and childhood apraxia of speech; aural rehabilitation; augmentative and alternative communication; cognitive impairment; craniofacial disorders; dysarthria; fluency disorders; language disorders in children; speech sound disorders; swallowing, dysphagia, and feeding disorders; and voice disorders.