Returning individuals with mild to moderate brain injury back to work: A systematic client centered approach

Abstract

An increase in the numbers of individuals who sustained brain injuries due to motor vehicle accidents, trauma induced by violence and substance abuse, has resulted in more disabled individuals becoming non-productive members in society and inactive in the workplace. Research in the field of brain injury rehabilitation internationally is limited, with the majority of research focusing on the medical model of intervention. In the medical model, the disabled or injured individual is regarded as having problems that require medicalbiological intervention mainly, with little or no attention given to the difficult process of reintegrating the disabled individual back into society, for example, in resuming their worker roles. The medical approach may result in feelings of disempowerment on behalf of the disabled with regard to the rehabilitation process. The lack of success of current rehabilitation interventions could be seen as a result of an inability to generalize outcomes of rehabilitation in a clinical setting to the skills needed to return to work or re-integrate into the community.