How do individuals involved in motor incidents experience major trauma

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  How do individuals involved in motor incidents experience major trauma?

• IRAS ID

  346265

• Contact name

  Grace McPherson

• Contact email

  D3867527@tees.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Teesside University

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 3 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  Major trauma is the term used to describe a serious injury that could cause permanent disability or death (NICE, 2016). In England, “trauma is the commonest cause of death in those under 40, with survivors often suffering long-term disability.” (NHS England, 2023, p.4). In the UK, each year, there are around 22,000 cases of major trauma and around 6,000 of these cases result in death with the others suffering long-term disability and psychological difficulties with the majority being a result of blunt force, predominantly from road traffic incidents (National Audit Office, 2009; Cole, 2022). Major trauma caused by traffic incidents has been linked with limitations to daily activities, dependence, and disturbances in performing professional duties, and family difficulties.
  Tedeschi and Calhoun (2004) coined the term ‘posttraumatic growth’ as the experience of positive change that occurs as a result of the struggle with highly challenging life crises. There is limited research exploring posttraumatic growth in major trauma however there is a small but growing body of work that identifies this as a salient feature of this experience (Turner & Cox, 2004; Wang, 2012; Hefferon et al., 2009) with some arguing that major trauma could act as a “springboard for growth”, enabling individuals to develop new perspectives on life and living (Turner & Cox, 2004). There is limited qualitative research exploring the lived experience of those who have sustained injuries as a result of motor accidents specifically. Additional research is needed to understand individuals’ experiences of severe-injury-related trauma given no prior study has explored patients' experiences in such depth. Participants will be asked about all aspects of their experience, negative and positive. This could provide insight into interventions that could focus on acknowledgment and acceptance of all aspects of the injury.

• REC name

  West Midlands - South Birmingham Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  24/WM/0240

• Date of REC Opinion

  25 Nov 2024

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion