Objective: To examine demographic, psychiatric symptom, and neuropsychological performance factors associated with duration of unemployment in Iraq/Afghanistan Veterans with a history of mild-to-moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Design: Cross-sectional, secondary data analysis of baseline measures in a supported employment study.
Setting: VA medical center.
Participants: Participants (N=50) were veterans with a history of mild-to-moderate TBI who were unemployed, stating a goal of returning to work, and had documented impairment in at least 1 neuropsychological domain. Participants were referred from VA vocational and assessment-based clinics.
Interventions: Not applicable.
Main outcome measures: Duration of unemployment, neuropsychological, and psychiatric symptom assessments.
Results: Bivariate correlations revealed that longer duration of unemployment was associated with greater posttraumatic stress disorder (P<.10) and depressive (P<.05) symptom severity, worse executive functioning (P<.05), and racial/ethnic minority status (P<.05). A multiple linear regression analysis including these independent variables explained 26.5% of the variance in duration of unemployment. Worse executive functioning, specifically reasoning and set-shifting, and minority status were each associated with longer duration of unemployment in the context of multiple independent variables.
Conclusions: Our results underscore the importance of objective assessment of cognitive functioning in job-seeking Veterans with TBI histories. It may be useful to target aspects of executive functioning in vocational rehabilitation interventions and to provide additional assistance to Veterans from racial/ethnic minority groups.
Keywords: Cognition; Depression; Employment; Neuropsychological tests; Rehabilitation; Stress disorders; post-traumatic.
Published by Elsevier Inc.