Wills, Elaine, and Fitts, Michelle (2024) Listening to the Voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women in Regional and Remote Australia About Traumatic Brain Injury From Family Violence: A Qualitative Study. Health Expectations, 27 (4). e14125.

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Abstract

Introduction: Indigenous women experience high rates of family violence-related head injuries. At present, lived experience accounts from Indigenous women are absent, which results in incomplete understandings and inadequate responses that have detrimental impacts on them and their families. The aim of this study was to gain insight into Indigenous women's personal and family perspectives regarding violence-related traumatic brain injury (TBI), including impacts on life, as well as decision-making processes about healthcare access and engagement.

Methods: Purposeful sampling was used to complete semi-structured interviews with 18 Indigenous women living in regional and remote Australia who had experienced TBI from family violence. The data from these interviews were augmented by data from interviews and focus groups with 28 community members, including family members or carers of Indigenous women living with TBI from family violence.

Results: Three themes were conceptualised based on the data and research aims: interweaving of the past and the present—ways women experience brain injury; factors that inform decision-making to access healthcare; and managing everyday changes that result from TBI from family violence. Indigenous women described living with a range of symptoms following repeated head injuries including problems with memory, cognition and concentration. A range of strategies to manage long-term symptoms of TBI were used by Indigenous women and when they did seek healthcare, Indigenous women were required to navigate a range of barriers.

Conclusions: The findings identify a range of gaps in healthcare and housing supports for Indigenous women with TBI from violence, highlighting the significant investment needed to develop responsive and appropriate pathways of care in regional and remote areas. A range of suggestions are discussed including development of a specialised workforce who can provide apppropriate follow-up support, co-designed concussion clinics and educational resources. TBI must also be a key aspect of policy and practice for services working with Indigenous women who have experienced violence to ensure appropriate responses are provided.

Public or Patient Contribution: Indigenous women shared their views and experiences of TBI from family violence as well as decision-making about accessing healthcare and managing TBI symptoms. As such, study participants provided public contributions to the research.

Item ID:	85578
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1369-7625
Copyright Information:	This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Funders:	Australian Research Council (ARC)
Projects and Grants:	ARC #210100639
Date Deposited:	22 May 2025 00:01
FoR Codes:	42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4203 Health services and systems > 420321 Rural and remote health services @ 50% 45 INDIGENOUS STUDIES > 4504 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing > 450409 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services @ 50%
SEO Codes:	21 INDIGENOUS > 2103 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health > 210303 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health system performance @ 50% 20 HEALTH > 2003 Provision of health and support services > 200399 Provision of health and support services not elsewhere classified @ 50%
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