Vocational Rehabilitation Outcomes From the U.K. Working Out Program: Characterizing the New Vocational Roles Obtained by People With Acquired Brain Injuries.

Importance: Supporting acquired brain injury (ABI) survivors to find new vocational roles is a critical aspect of vocational rehabilitation. However, it is rarely provided in the United Kingdom and U.K.-based research in this area is lacking.

Objective: To characterize the new vocational roles obtained by ABI survivors who accessed a specialist service (Working Out program) providing rehabilitation and supported employment.

Design: Retrospective descriptive statistical analysis of routinely collected clinical data.

Setting: Community Head Injury Service, Buckinghamshire Healthcare National Health Service Trust, United Kingdom.

Participants: ABI survivors who accessed the Working Out program between 2005 and 2023 and who started a new vocational role during this period.

Outcomes and measures: Role type, role status, industry.

Results: ABI survivors (N = 278; M age = 41.75 yr, SD = 13.09; 24.82% female) obtained a new vocational role. It took on average 1.98 yr (SD = 2.35, range = 0-14) to find an initial new role. Survivors obtained on average 2.79 new vocational roles each (SD = 2.13, range = 1-15). Of the 767 roles for which relevant data were available, 332 (43.29%) were paid, 386 (50.33%) were voluntary, and 49 (6.39%) were education or training roles. The most frequent industry in which a new vocational role was obtained was administrative and support service activities.

Conclusions and relevance: U.K. ABI survivors may be supported to find new vocational roles. However, rehabilitation plus supported employment interventions may be required for an extended duration given the complexity of ABI as a chronic health condition and challenges associated with finding new roles. Plain-Language Summary: People with brain injuries often need support to find new vocational roles after their injury. However, this type of support is rarely provided in the United Kingdom, and U.K.-based research in this area is limited. We analyzed data from a U.K. clinical service that provides rehabilitation and helps people with brain injuries find new jobs. We showed that many people with brain injuries successfully found at least one new job, and many of these new jobs were paid. However, it often took a substantial period of time for them to find a new job.