Occupational Therapy Program Student Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Document Type

Dissertation - NSU Access Only

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Occupational Therapy

Copyright Statement

All rights reserved. This publication is intended for use solely by faculty, students, and staff of Nova Southeastern University. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, now known or later developed, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author or the publisher.

First Advisor

Mariana D'Amico

Date of original Performance / Presentation

January 2023

Publication Date / Copyright Date

1-1-2023

Abstract

This phenomenological study aimed to uncover and interpret the essence of participation in romantic intimacy from the perspectives of community-dwelling women who have sustained mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI). Concepts from the Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation (VSA) Model of Marriage, the Person-Environment-Occupation-Performance (PEOP) Model, and the Pan Occupational Paradigm (POP) guided this dissertation study. Data were collected through the rich narratives and stories elicited in one-on-one, in-depth interviews. The result was an interpretation of the universal essence of intimacy, or the grasp of the very nature of intimacy, from women’s perspectives after sustaining a mild traumatic brain injury. The interviews yielded six themes that should guide future research and be considered by healthcare practitioners when working with women with an mTBI. These themes are as follows: (a) Intimacy is “being completely vulnerable”; (b) “Brain injuries are incredibly isolating and intimacy is the exact opposite of that”; (c) Intimacy is “[having] somebody that was just as invested in my recovery as me, if not even more”; (d) Intimacy is “a shared, flexible give-and-take dynamic”; (e) Intimacy is “communicating wants and needs”; and (f) “[Women’s sexual and intimacy-related concerns are] not taken seriously in the scientific and medical fields ... our pleasure is definitely not centered at all.”

Disciplines

Occupational Therapy

Keywords

intimacy; lived experience; mild traumatic brain injury; occupational therapy; phenomenology; women

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