Understanding Sustainable Return to Work Experiences Among Persons with Acquired Brain Injuries (ABI) in Singapore

This is a qualitative exploratory study examining return-to-work experiences among individuals with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) in Singapore. Participants will be directly involved in this study. No retrospective medical-record review and no clinical treatment, medical procedure, or biological sample collection will be conducted. Participants will be adults with acquired brain injury, such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, or hypoxic brain injury, who have returned to paid employment for at least three months. After providing informed consent, participants will complete a short demographic questionnaire and take part in one individual semi-structured interview, either in person or via Zoom, according to their preference. With consent, the interview will be audio-recorded for accurate transcription and analysis. The study will observe participants’ lived experiences of returning to and sustaining paid employment after acquired brain injury. Areas explored will include return-to-work experiences, facilitators and barriers to sustained employment, workplace challenges, coping and adjustment strategies, workplace support, support needs, and recommendations for improving return-to-work support. Basic demographic information collected include age range, gender, type of acquired brain injury, time since injury, occupation, and duration of return to work. No injuries, treatments prescribed, clinical outcomes, or medical-record data will be collected as study outcomes. Participants will be asked to complete the following study activities: - Informed consent - Demographic questionnaire which will include background information such as age range, gender, type of acquired brain injury, time since injury, occupation, and duration of return to work. - One semi-structured interview (approximately 45–60 minutes.) The interview will explore participants’ return-to-work experiences, challenges, coping strategies, workplace support, and perceived needs for additional assistance. No physical assessments, clinical tests, treatment procedures, or standardised health questionnaires are involved in this study. The overall duration of participant observation is a single study visit lasting approximately 45–65 minutes in total. There is no longitudinal follow-up period. The overall proposed study period is from April 2026 to March 2027. No intervention or exposure is assigned; the study is non-interventional and involves qualitative data collection only.