Grief, Anger, and Relationality

Background: Therapeutic emotion work is performed by health care providers as they manage their own feelings as well as those of colleagues and patients as part of efforts to improve the physical and psychosocial health outcomes of patients. It has yet to be examined within the context of traumatic brain injury rehabilitation. Objective: To evaluate the impact of a research-based theater intervention on emotion work practices of neurorehabilitation staff. Research Design: Data were collected at baseline and at 3 and 12 months postintervention in the inpatient neurorehabilitation units of two rehabilitation hospitals in central urban Canada. Subjects: Participants ( N = 33) were recruited from nursing, psychology, allied health, recreational therapy, and chaplaincy. Measures: Naturalistic observations ( N = 204.5 hr) of a range of structured and unstructured activities in public and private areas, and semistructured interviews ( N = 87) were conducted. Results: Preintervention analysis indicated emotion work practices were characterized by stringent self-management of empathy, suppression of client grief, adeptness with client anger, and discomfort with reactions of family and spouses. Postintervention analysis indicated significant staff changes in a relationality orientation, specifically improvements in outreach to homosexual and heterosexual family care partners, and support for sexual orientation and intimacy expression. No improvements were demonstrated in grief support. Conclusion: Emotion work has yet to be the focus of initiatives to improve neurorehabilitative care. Our findings suggest the dramatic arts are well positioned to improve therapeutic emotion work and effect cultures of best practice. Recommendations are made for interprofessional educational initiatives to improve responses to client grief and potential intimate partner violence.