Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana, Indianapolis, IN; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN.
OBJECTIVE: To determine the extent to which previous findings on the effectiveness of resource facilitation to impact return to work and school could be replicated.
DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Outpatient rehabilitation clinic. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-four outpatients with acquired brain injury. INTERVENTION: Fifteen months of resource facilitation services. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: A revised version of the Vocational Independence Scale and the Participation Index of the Mayo-Portland Adaptability Inventory-4.
RESULTS: Participants randomized to the resource facilitation group demonstrated significant advantage in terms of rate and timing of return to productive community-based work relative to control participants. When examining only return to competitive work (and not return to school), 69% of the resource facilitation group was able to return as compared to 50% of the control participants. Analyses of measures of participation in household and community activities revealed that both groups improved significantly over the 15 month study period, but no significant advantage for either group was demonstrated.
CONCLUSIONS: This study replicates the positive impact of resource facilitation in improving productive community-based activity, including competitive employment and volunteering in the community.