The Impact of Traumatic Brain Injury on Women as Spouses and Partners: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) results in enduring mental and behavioral, and emotional problems that impact both people who experience the injury and their family members. The existing review about TBI effects on women who stay in partner relationships with their spouses remains scarce because women typically become the primary caregivers for their injured husbands. Objective: This review was conducted as a scoping review to combine all available studies that investigated this subject. Methods: The review used the Arksey and O’Malley framework to conduct a scoping review which Levac and his team reported following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, later improved through methodological enhancements. The reviewers combined their review findings through a narrative review method. Following the completion of the search, all articles published before 2010 were excluded by the search filters, and the results were 128 articles on one search, 265 on Google Scholar, and 53 on Taylor Francis Online. In the study, a total of 446 articles were found in the selected databases with a filter applied to restrict the search from 2010 onwards. The articles were then screened based on specific criteria outlined in their titles and abstracts, and any duplicates were removed. After the screening process, 13 articles were identified as meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria and were selected for full-text reading. Results: While considering the PRISMA-ScR guidelines, five dominant thematic domains were identified: (1) role transformation and caregiving responsibilities, (2) changes in relationship dynamics, (3) emotional and psychosocial impact, (4) social isolation and role overload, and (5) coping, adaptation, and resilience. Across studies, women experienced abrupt and sustained shifts from partner to primary caregiver, accompanied by emotional burden, relational ambiguity, and reduced social participation. Conclusion: There is a lack of research focusing on the well-being of traumatic brain injury (TBI) caregivers following role shifts. This area warrants further investigation on a global scale. The impact of TBI on women's ability to perform their roles as spouses and partners of people who have had TBI and the impact on their daily life requires a special program such as peer support, therapy sessions, and group therapy to reduce caregiver burnout and improve mental health status and provide the needed care and support.