The associations among self-awareness, emotional well-being, and employment outcome following acquired brain injury: A 12-month longitudinal study.

Objective: To investigate self-awareness and emotional well-being according to change in employment outcome in people with acquired brain injury (ABI). Design: A 12-month longitudinal study. Participants and Setting: Fifty adults with ABI attending outpatient rehabilitation (n = 17) or vocational rehabilitation services (n = 33). Time since injury ranged from 6 months to 12 years (M = 4.3 years, SD = 4.1). Main Outcome Measures: Self Awareness of Deficits Interview, Self-Regulation Skills Interview, Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale, and employment outcome (stable employment, improved employment, and stable unemployment). Results: At the initial assessment, level of awareness for the improved employment group was significantly lower than that for the stable employment group (P .017). Demographic and injury-related variables were generally not related to employment outcome. Conclusions: The findings empirically support the theoretical view that an increase in self-awareness is associated with improved employment status, although the direction of this relation is unclear.