Assessing cognitive communication skills for returning to work following acquired brain injury: a systematic scoping review

Abstract

Purpose: Cognitive communication impairments resulting from acquired brain injury (ABI) impact a person's ability to return to and maintain employment. This study reviews the assessment of cognitive communication skills for return to work after injury.

Materials and methods: A scoping review was conducted. Key search terms included brain injury, cognitive communication, work and their synonyms. Studies were included if participants had an ABI diagnosis, were at least 16 years old, mentioned vocational rehabilitation or return to work, and cognition or cognitive communication.

Results: A total of 692 studies were identified through database searches with an additional 18 articles found through handsearching. Fourteen articles were included in the final review. Measures, most included in studies target discrete skills when aligned to the Model of Cognitive Communication Competence. The Individual and Contextual Domains of the model were not well represented and there were limited measures able to capture self or other reported data.

Conclusions: Assessment of cognitive communication skills for returning to work following ABI requires an individualised and contextualised approach. This study highlights a gap between key clinical models and measures reported in the current literature. Further research into clinical practice is required.

Keywords: Cognitive communication; acquired brain injury; assessment; vocation; work.