abstract: 'Background and objectives: People with acquired brain injury (ABI) have

  traditionally experienced low employment rates, compared with the

  national average and others with disability in Australia. To positively

  impact mainstream economic participation following ABI, a co-design

  approach was used to investigate open employment pathways available and

  consider necessary pathway features to enable employment for people with

  ABI.

  Method: A qualitative focus group methodology was used with four groups:

  people with ABI; health professionals working with this group; employers

  providing work for people with ABI and social and injury insurers

  funding employment services. The project was delivered in two phases:

  (1) review existing work pathways in Australia and gather knowledge

  about enablers and barriers to employment following ABI and (2) use ABI

  lived experience, employers'' experience and allied health and social

  insurer expertise to develop a new pathway to mainstream employment.

  Results: Co-design helped to identify enablers and barriers to

  employment of people with ABI, as well as practical strategies to

  facilitate workplace diversity and inclusion. Enablers included

  replacing interviews with an onsite assessment to meet key staff and

  trial work tasks, employer education on ABI, the use of compensatory

  cognitive aides and graded on-the-job support. This guided the

  development of a new employment pathway, tailored for people with ABI,

  called `Employment CoLab''.

  Conclusions: The Employment CoLab pathway, when coupled with

  person-centred collaborative and effective social disability insurance

  approaches, offers opportunities to build inclusive, sustainable and

  scalable economic participation and mainstream wages for people with

  ABI.'
affiliation: 'Bould, E (Corresponding Author), Monash Univ, Dept Occupat Therapy,
  Melbourne, Vic, Australia.

  Bould, Em; Callaway, Libby, Monash Univ, Dept Occupat Therapy, Melbourne, Vic, Australia.

  Callaway, Libby, Monash Univ, Rehabil Ageing \& Independent Living Res Ctr, Melbourne,
  Vic, Australia.'
author: Bould, Em and Callaway, Libby
author-email: em.bould@monash.edu
author_list:
- family: Bould
  given: Em
- family: Callaway
  given: Libby
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1017/BrImp.2020.9
eissn: 1839-5252
files: []
issn: 1443-9646
journal: BRAIN IMPAIRMENT
keywords: 'Acquired brain injury; co-design; enablers and barriers; economic

  participation; employment pathway'
keywords-plus: ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY; RETURN; WORK; REHABILITATION; OUTCOMES
language: English
month: MAR
number: '1'
number-of-cited-references: '35'
orcid-numbers: 'Bould, Em/0000-0003-3108-2072

  Callaway, Libby/0000-0002-3127-6312'
pages: 50-66
papis_id: c0222e89d3e2186d25487cf269061e64
ref: Bould2021codesignapproach
researcherid-numbers: 'Bould, Em/HZL-8802-2023

  '
times-cited: '5'
title: A co-design approach to examine and develop pathways to open employment for
  people with acquired brain injury
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000847205300004
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '1'
volume: '22'
web-of-science-categories: Clinical Neurology; Neurosciences; Rehabilitation
year: '2021'