Ethnodrama

This scene illustrates a little of the background of the three characters, their lives, and their loved one, before changes in behaviour began to unfold. The scene shows how each character had different memories, with Helen remembering her husband with fondness, compared to Noah who had some negative memories. The scene finishes with the three characters appearing more comfortable with each other and ready and willing to share their experiences.

The prominent emotion displayed by each of the characters within this scene is confusion. The conversation illustrates how the initial changes in their loved ones’ behaviour caused them to question themselves and their relationships. Unreliable spending habits, erratic moods, and poor memory of the athlete made the family members feel they were “losing” their loved one. Comments such as “what have I done wrong?” show how the family members questioned their own response to how they dealt with these initial changes, which added to their sense of uncertainly about the potential impacts of such behaviour going forward. Nevertheless, the scene ends with the characters feeling positive about talking this through with others who have had similar experience, and showing a desire to continue their conversation later.

Key emotions of confusion, shock, and despair were prevalent throughout this scene. The characters expressed a sense of disbelief with the behavioural changes becoming more frequent. Furthermore, this scene illustrates the consequences of these changes on the family members of the athlete. Specifically, Helen describes her heartbreak and mental exhaustion, and Noah expresses how his life became extremely sad and isolating as his father’s behaviour was so bad that others didn’t want to be around him. A lack of understanding about what was happening really accelerated feelings of frustration and helplessness, although confusion lessened as the family members were beginning to understand the athletes’ patterns of behaviour. However, the characters also recalled how speaking to health professionals who didn’t understand the athletes’ condition subsequently intensified their feelings of worry. The scene finishes with the characters feeling a sense of sadness from discussing these severe issues, as well as feeling drained from the conversation.

This scene revealed negative emotions such as sadness and distress in the family members as the athletes passed away. Even though the family members were generally prepared for death (e.g., Helen saying “I knew it was coming”), guilt was an overriding emotion, and they felt they should have done more to help. However, as the conversation became more reflective, the overriding emotion experienced changed to one of relief, as they no longer had to go through such draining and challenging situations. This relief also came about through diagnosis after death, with the knowledge that the athlete actually had a neurological disease, which provided an explanation for their extreme changes in behaviour in the last years of their life. The scene finishes with the characters feeling positive about sharing their stories, and how this opportunity to talk about their experiences made them feel supported.

This scene shows how family members channeled their emotions into education and raising awareness about head injuries in sport, which in turn acted as a coping strategy to deal with their grief and allow them to move forward with their lives. Although emotions of guilt, sadness, and anger were all still evident throughout the scene, the family members also show their gratitude for a diagnosis and the research that is now being done, with a particular sense of curiosity towards how ongoing research will help other families. The family members also had some regret in not listening to their own needs, with a recognition of self-care as being necessary to minimise negative effects on their own mental health and welfare during such challenging times, as well as a desire to use their own experiences to help others move forward. The dialogue finishes on a positive note, with family members feeling somewhat optimistic about the future, and how something good was coming out of what had been a primarily traumatic experience.