Action Ethnography of Community Reintegration for Veterans and Military Service Members With Traumatic Brain Injury:...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Sociology

Background:

• Limited research exists on community reintegration (CR) for veterans with traumatic brain injury (TBI), particularly concerning civilian study applicability.
• The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) acknowledges unique TBI healthcare needs in post-9/11 service members, emphasizing service continuity from acute care to community living.
• Bridging acute care and community-based rehabilitation is crucial for successful veteran reintegration post-TBI.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the community reintegration experiences of veterans with complicated mild, moderate, or severe TBI, their families, and CR specialists.
• To describe the rationale, design, and methods for a longitudinal study on veteran TBI reintegration.
• To understand the transition and sustained community living for veterans and service members with TBI.

Main Methods:

• A five-year longitudinal mixed-methods study employing community-engaged research (CEnR) and ethnographic approaches.
• Data collection involved 30 veterans with TBI, 13 family caregivers, 11 CR specialists, 16 stakeholders, and 82 community events.
• Analysis included hierarchical coding, thematic analysis, content analysis, and egocentric social network analysis of interviews, observations, and surveys.

Main Results:

• Study enrollment and data collection phases are complete.
• Data analysis is currently in progress.
• Initial findings are anticipated to illuminate environmental factors influencing TBI community reintegration.

Conclusions:

• Study results may enhance understanding of environmental factors impacting community reintegration for veterans with TBI.
• Veteran, service member, and family perspectives offer VHA clinicians and policymakers an ecological view of reintegration.
• Findings will guide the development and testing of interventions to optimize CR across various domains for veterans with TBI.