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