Vocational reentry following TBI: An enablement model

Authors: Kramer, S. E.
Year Published 2000
Publication The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation
Volume 15
Number 4
Pages 989-999
Publisher Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.
Background

Environmental factors are at the heart of many performance problems after traumatic brain injury (TBI). This vulnerability negatively affects the ability of the patient to generalize treatment gains made in an artificial clinic environment to more naturalistic settings like home and work. It also impacts the rehabilitation professional's ability to predict the performance of a patient in these and other real world settings. Rehabilitation efforts that make patient environmental interactions part of the treatment plan will increase generalization and predictability. Rehabilitation efforts should include data-based definitions of the environment(s) within which each individual can best function. Also important is a focus on the tasks that he or she can perform within those environment(s). When a discharge goal is to return to work, rehabilitation efforts must include: identifying job settings where enabling environments can be established and providing ongoing support to the individual in the job situation should the environment change. More research is needed on the use and benefits of an environmentally focused treatment model.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper was twofold. First it described a treatment program for individuals with brain injury that focuses heavily on patient-environment interactions, both during treatment and after discharge and provide illustrative case examples.

Setting

The interventions took place in the clinical setting and the individuals' places of employment.

Sample

The study examined the experiences of three individuals with TBI who received varying levels of support to return to work. More specific, they demonstrate how treatment environments were initially configured and then modified during treatment as the patients returned to work. The case studies were selected from an overall sample of 57 individuals with TBI. All three patients had extremely severe neurocognitive dysfunction.

Data Collection

No specific data was collected or analyzed. Three case studies illustrated three interventions to help individuals with TBI with returning to work.

Control

No comparison condition.

Findings

It is clear that the successful vocational re-entry depicted in these cases required close attention to each patient's specific strengths and weaknesses as they related to specific environmental factors, especially the levels and types of structure and distraction that were inherent in the environment. It seems that specialized, individualized treatment that focuses on the patients' strengths and weaknesses and on environmental factors, like the degree of structure and distractions, can enable return to work for individuals with severe TBI.

Conclusions

Environmental factors impact the ability of individuals with TBI to return to work. Individualized treatment that focuses on how structure and/or distractions impact work performance can be used to help individuals with TBI return to work.

URL http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10876171
Disabilities Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
Populations Male & Female
Outcomes Employment acquisition | Return to work
NIDILRR Funded Not Reported
Research Design Case reports
Peer Reviewed Yes