Vocational evaluation of traumatic brain injury patients using the functional assessment inventory

Abstract

Impaired work capacity is one of the most common residual impairments encountered after either a severe or moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI), yet no instrument is available for screening TBI victims regarding their readiness to participate in more comprehensive vocational planning and evaluation. In the study reported here, the Functional Assessment Inventory (FAI) was administered to 76 subjects who suffered a moderate or severe TBI and the results obtained were compared to the Rancho Los Amigos Hospital Levels of Cognitive Functioning, the Mini-Mental State and the Glasgow Outcome Scale for sensitivity in discerning vocational readiness. The results obtained indicated that the FAI composite score has the greatest discriminating power in screening the vocational readiness of this population, followed by the Glasgow Outcome Scale. In addition, the FAI cluster scores demonstrated reasonable discriminative ability, which may prove useful in directing ongoing remediation.