Enabling Meaning after Brain injury through Acceptance and Resiliency Construction (EMBARC)

Research Objectives: 1) Explore community services that foster acceptance, resiliency, and meaning after brain injury;
2) Understand the barriers and facilitators to implementation of these programs for people with brain injury; and
3) Identify implementation and service adaptation priorities in brain injury programming.

Design: A participatory focus group design with patient partnership was used to explore experiences of conducting brain injury programs and knowledge of the barriers and facilitators to their implementation (Krueger & Casey, 2014; Thorne, 2016; Visser et al., 2021). Using a manifest content analysis approach, focus group data was analyzed while minimally deviating from broad and structural information provided by participants (Bengtsson, 2016; Graneheim et al., 2017; Kleinheksel et al., 2020).

Setting: Focus groups were conducted online through Zoom, a video calling platform.

Participants: 22 individuals from community associations conducting programs for people with brain injury were included. Participants were recruited from a public brain injury organization database using convenience sampling methods.

Results: Preliminary results indicate that programs and services promoting engagement, life reconstruction, and connection to the community are particularly meaningful for people with brain injury. External systems or factors such as public policy, use of technology, and systems processes can act as both barriers and facilitators to program success. These findings highlight existing brain injury resources, reveal program barriers and facilitators, and suggest priorities for adapting existing services or developing future community programs.

Conclusions: This study informs individual- and community-level approaches to promote meaningful life after brain injury. Overall, findings contribute knowledge to the rehabilitation field, supporting future research to guide successful programming for people with brain injury.

Author(s) Disclosures: Not applicable.