@article{9163009b97ef4b91b6829791ec02fa3e,
title = "Families coping with disability due to brain injury in Oman: Attribution to belief in spirit infestation and Ensorcellment",
abstract = "Little is known about primary caregivers' perceptions of a relative who has sustained abruptly personality changes following traumatic brain injury (TBI) in non-Western populations. To help appreciate the diversity of perceptions of disability outside the biomedical setting, the present discourse highlights how primary caregivers construct sequelae of TBI in Oman. A qualitative case study with an ethnographic approach was conducted using semistructured interviews. Six caregivers from two families of patients with TBI were interviewed to garner description of lay beliefs within a rural community in Oman related to the experience of family carers with a relative suffering from a brain injury. The caregivers interpreted their relatives' predicament through the local idiom of distress involving belief in spirit infestation and ensorcellment. The present qualitative study supports the view that when a family member incurs neurobehavioral impairments, the coping processes of the caregivers are heavily influenced by cultural concepts of health and illness. Such attributions are discussed in terms of specific sociocultural forces within Omani society.",
keywords = "Brain injured, Cross-cultural, Ensorcellment, Family coping, Infestation, Oman",
author = "Samir Al-Adawi and Zakiya Al-Busaidi and Al-Adawi, {Sara S.} and Burke, {David T.}",
note = "Funding Information: Samir Al-Adawi is a professor of behavioral medicine at the College of Medicine, Sultan Qaboos University. Previously, he was Fulbright senior scholar, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School, Boston, the United States, and a research scientist sponsored by the Matsumae International Foundation at the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, the University of Tokyo, Japan. His doctorate training was at the Institute of Psychiatry, King{\textquoteright}s College, the United Kingdom. He has research interests that focus on functional prognosis among the patients with cognitive impairment. Zakiya Al-Busaidi is a senior consultant at the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, Sultan Qaboos University, in Oman. She has the membership of the royal college of general practitioners, MRCGP (Int) UK, and has received PhD from the University of Nottingham, UK. Her area of interest is in cross-cultural aspect of mental health in primary care and qualitative research. Sara S. Al-Adawi worked as a research intern at the Department of Behavioural Medicine, Sultan Qaboos University. She recently enrolled at the Oman Medical College to pursue training in medicine. She has published a number of articles on social aspect of medicine. David T. Burke is a professor and chairman of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Emory University: School of Medicine. Previously, he served on the faculty at Harvard University Medical School as the medical director of the Clinical Unit of Traumatic Brain Injury at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston. He is a founding member of the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department at Harvard University Medical School. He has an extensive publication history with most of his research focused on brain injury. ",
year = "2012",
month = jul,
day = "23",
doi = "10.1177/2158244012457400",
language = "English",
volume = "2",
pages = "1--8",
journal = "SAGE Open",
issn = "2158-2440",
publisher = "SAGE Publications Inc.",
number = "3",
}