How the financial environment influences the financial capability and well-being of adults with brain injury.

Research Objectives: To explore how the environment or context influences the financial capability and financial well-being of adults who live with acquired brain injury (ABI).

Design: Researchers completed a PhotoVoice study between December 2020 and December 2021.

Setting: Researchers collected data online or in-person to account for varying levels of technology access in the community.

Participants: Researchers recruited 17 adults (18+) who self-identified as living with ABI from urban and rural Manitoba (Canada). Participants were between ages 31-82 years (M=50, SD=13.5); 41% were female. Researchers used maximum variation sampling to ensure varied demographic characteristics.

Interventions: None.

Main Outcome Measures: Over three to eight weeks, each participant took photographs representing their financial capability and well-being experiences. Demographic data was collected via telephone. Participants engaged in a semi-structured interview focused on the meaning of three to seven of their photographs. Researchers thematically analyzed interview transcripts.

Results: The environment was often a tipping-point to financial capability and financial well-being for adults living with ABI. Financial capability and financial well-being were a function of interactions of the person in their specific environment, and the context related to experiences of financial inclusion/exclusion. Environmental aspects that influenced financial capability, financial well-being, and financial inclusion/exclusion included economic (e.g., accessing and understanding products and resources), technological (e.g., navigating apps and websites), physical (e.g., parking access, bank/institution layout), sensory (e.g., lighting, noise), and social (e.g., access to trusted others or supports) contexts. The experience of invisible disability was often a factor proliferating financial exclusion while living with ABI sequelae.

Conclusions: The findings support the need for a holistic and comprehensive understanding of the financial experiences of those living with ABI. There is a need for advocacy to improve the financial inclusion for people living with ABI. Space, practice, and policy innovations could address both the financial and general well-being of adults living with ABI.

Author(s) Disclosures: This study was funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Social Development Partnerships Program (disability component).