Characterizing common workplace communication skills for disorders associated with traumatic brain injury: A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND

Interpersonal skill deficits are the primary reason for workplace separation after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Communication is integral to interpersonal skills, but workplace communication demands are inadequately described in the rehabilitation literature.

OBJECTIVE

This study describes inter-stakeholder examples of workplace communication behaviors for a level of employment to which people with TBI commonly attempt to return.

METHODS

Setting

Mid-level workplaces.

Design

Semi-structured interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, then analyzed using thematic content analysis. Findings were linked to common communication deficits in persons with TBI.

Participants

A volunteer sample of twenty healthy individuals employed in the mid-level workplaces, ten employees and ten supervisors.Main Outcome Measure(s): Taxonomy of communication skill deficits common in persons with TBI and associated with mid-level workplaces.

RESULTS

Interviews revealed seven communication-related skills associated with mid-level employment: 1) spoken language processing; 2) verbal memory; 3) reading and writing; 4) verbal reasoning; 5) expressive pragmatics; 6) multi-tasking; and 7) social cognition.

CONCLUSION

Workers and supervisors from an assortment of mid-level jobs with differing job contents all identified similarly common and important cross-occupational communication-related skills. Findings provide a preliminary guide to assess and treat communication skills for patients who have work re-entry as a goal.