Changing goals and intentions among participants in a neuropsychological rehabilitation programme: an explorative...

The objective is to describe how persons with brain injury become aware of their difficulties and recreate their lives during a rehabilitation programme.

Thirteen individuals with brain injuries were interviewed in a pre-post design, using a structured interview guide.

Two types of changes during rehabilitation were observed: First, a change has happened during the rehabilitation process from preserving the former self to self-autonomy or self-realization. Secondly, a change happened in the participants' perception of difficulties from attempts to handle critical situations to avoiding anticipated critical situations. Influential factors were identified as the settings in which the person is embedded, the emotional reactions, attributions and attitudes towards the injury and the future time perspective.

Self-presentation may be described as the ability to foresee critical situations and to intentionally choose not to get involved in that kind of situation. The way the persons present themselves has changed during the rehabilitation process.