A survey of vocational status 10 years after traumatic head injury

Productivity is one of the components of occupational performance in occupational therapy. Thus, work status is an important area to address after head injury. Many studies on long‐term outcomes after head injury document return to work post injury but often do not report the nature of employment after injury. The aim of this study was to examine change in vocational status 10 years after head injury and explore participants' perception of how this injury affected career plans. Eighty‐three out of 100 subjects were traced 10 years post injury from a large trauma centre in Canada. Of these, 59 agreed to participate in a telephone interview where data on employment were collected. Occupations before and after injury were coded using three indices (Hollingshead Index, Blishen Socioeconomic Index for Occupations, and the Pineo Socioeconomic Classification of Occupations). The study shows that, on average, subjects who are employed before and after injury stay at the same level of vocational status or improve slightly. Younger age (p<0.05) and being male (p<0.10) were associated with an increase in status. Six major themes on how injury affected career plans emerged. It is recommended that greater attention be given to coding occupations in research, clinical work and follow‐up studies of head injured subjects.