The Lived Experiences of People with an Acquired Brain Injury Returning to a Different Work Role, Post-Injury

Introduction: The position of work and employment can have a large impact on how
\nindividuals perceive themselves and their identity within the world. Research suggests that
\nthis can be due to historical, political, and social contexts. However, when considering
\nevents, e.g., a physical health illness, that causes an interruption in work, much of the
\nliterature focuses on returning to work (RTW) after a different physical health illness. For
\nthose who have experienced an acquired brain injury (ABI), this returning to work can cause
\nmore impact due to often not being able to return to the same job held pre-injury and already
\nmanaging a sense of loss from the physical, psychological and cognitive impacts such an
\ninjury can have. Exploring this further was the aim of the present study.
\nMethod: Eight participants who had experienced an ABI and returned to a different work role
\nwere interviewed. The focus of this interview was to explore how they had made sense of
\nreturning to a different work role, how, if at all, this had impacted how they perceived their
\nidentity, and in what way vocational rehabilitation had supported them. The data was
\nanalysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.
\nResults: Five Group Experiential Themes emerged. These included GET 1: A continuous
\nimpact; GET 2: The status of work; GET 3: A new way of life; GET 4: Forgetting and
\nremembering; GET 5: The importance of people. Many of these themes centred around
\nparticipants’ reformation of their identity and new meanings being attributed to employment.
\nDiscussion: The findings of the study are discussed alongside existing literature and theory.
\nStrengths, limitations, and implications of the research are provided. Suggestions for future
\nresearch are also discussed.