Lived experiences of RTW to a different role following ABI
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploration of the lived experiences of people with an acquired brain injury (ABI), returning to a different work role, post-injury.
IRAS ID
328707
Contact name
Nisha Chauhan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Hertfordshire
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
0000000000, 000000000
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Social role valorisation (Wolfensberger, 2011) suggests that our roles, such as parenthood or the job we have (Jessop, 2011), often determine how valuable we are seen in the rest of society. In essence, the more you can offer to society, the more valuable society sees you.
As a result, it can be determined that employment not only impacts our physical, mental, and cognitive wellbeing, but how we measure our self-worth and who we are. However, in moments where employment is threatened, such as following a brain injury, it could be questioned what remains of our worth and identity (Fleming et al., 2019).
Currently, vocational (employment) rehabilitation can be provided in the case of brain injury, e.g., following an accident, stroke, or brain surgery, to help those who are able to return to work (Libeson et al., 2020). Much research has been carried out on those who have successfully returned to work, and what are effective returning to work programmes (Brakenridge et al., 2022).
Research demonstrates that an optional change in work role can have a mostly positive impact for the general population (Carless & Arnup, 2011). However, little is known about the impact of changing job roles when you must, i.e., following a brain injury where an individual may no longer be able to hold the position they once had, and must move to a different role.
Consequently, the current project hopes to understand people’s experiences of changing work role post-injury, and their experiences of how they understand their self and worth. It is hoped that by exploring this, the research may be able to inform employment services who find that, although the cognitive and financial needs of service users are being met, many return experiencing a lasting emotional impact, not first noticed during their initial return to employment.
REC name
East Midlands - Derby Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/EM/0029
Date of REC Opinion
15 Feb 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion