Improving Work Outcomes for Veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury
Abstract
This paper reports on a 12-month randomized controlled trial that compared supported employment plus Cognitive Symptom Management and Rehabilitation Therapy (SE-Cog) to enhanced supported employment (ESE) for OEF/OIF veterans with mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) who are unemployed and want to return to work. CogSMART is a manualized, 12-week compensatory cognitive training intervention designed to provide the following: (1) psychoeducation; (2) strategies to address sleep problems, fatigue, headaches, and stress; and (3) strategies to improve prospective memory, attention, learning/memory, and executive functioning. Assessments of cognition, post-concussive symptoms, psychiatric symptoms, functional skills, and quality of life will be administered at baseline, and at 3, 6, and 12 months following study enrollment. Work outcomes (i.e., weeks and hours worked; wages earned) will be measured weekly during the 12-month study. Repeated measures ANOVA using baseline and three-month scores showed that, compared with the ESE group, SE-Cog participants reported more improvement in post-concussive symptoms (F=36.6, df=1,5, p=.002); there also were trends toward improvement in verbal fluency and quality of life. Forty-four percent of the SE-Cog participants and none of the ESE participants have obtained work thus far. These results suggest that CogSMART, in the context of supported employment, may improve post-concussive symptoms, cognitive performance, and work outcomes.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA514792
Entities
People
- Elizabeth W Twamley