Abstract
The acquisition of a physical disability involves multiple losses, leading to both a grief process and a meaning-making process of the lived experience, besides a need to review the assumptive world and the life’s direction. The purpose of this article is to present a study with four paraplegic individuals, 18-22 years old, their constructions of meaning of a traumatic spinal cord injury and the process of life resumption after the disability. This research adopted a qualitative approach, through semi-structured interviews, and content analysis for the treatment of information. It was noticed that the meanings built from the injury were positive, designating appreciation, overcoming, learning, discovering and transformation. The participants identified positive situations, even when they were facing many adversities. Such meanings contributed to the establishment of new life projects, which were adapted to a new reality of paraplegic condition. The importance of the physical rehabilitation and of the family as a support network, and the need of validating the grief (which favors its development, contributing to reorganize the life and reinvest in future plans) were also evident.
Spinal Cord Injury; Grief; Meaning; Life Project