How are families and friends being included in rehabilitation research and programs: An examination of current literature and the experiences of family members of Invictus Games' participants

Abstract

Military families face unique stressors including risk of injury or illness (National Defence, 2017), and, when injury or illness occurs, family is important (Ogilvie et al., 2015). Injured and/or ill veterans and serving members have begun turning to competitive adaptive sport as rehabilitation; however, little is known about the family experience of rehabilitation through sport. The purpose of this dissertation was to ascertain:

How does a theoretical lens help us understand the experiences of families involved with rehabilitation and recovery following life altering injury or illness acquired in early- to mid-adulthood? How do families of Invictus Games participants experience the journey from the decision to pursue competition to post-competition? To answer these questions, a scoping review and an interpretive qualitative study were conducted. Eighteen studies were included in the scoping review. Although inconsistently applied over the years, family theories, models, and frameworks were applied in three different ways: comparing life prior to and following injury or illness, the factors which influence adaptation and whether families heal individually or collectively. In the qualitative study, analysis of interviews with family members (n = 6) and friends (n = 1) revealed four main themes: the treatment of families at organizational level and by unaffiliated individuals; the inability to separate the experiences of the families and friends from the competitors; the life- changing experience that occurred; and the community of understanding which came through connecting with like others. The inconsistent application of family theories, models and frameworks has the potential to constrain the development of both family studies and rehabilitation and recovery research. ii Additionally, efforts made to create new theories for families within a rehabilitation setting display a duplication of work. The findings from the interviews contrast previous Work-Family Conflict studies, showing the importance of the norms, intent and the support provided. The findings also parallel military family research with family being seen as increasingly important in their own right, highlighting the growing care for families. Taken together, these studies show the complexities of the family experience of recovery and the need for an ecological approach.