Comprehensive Community Reintegration Programming for Persons With Acquired Brain Injury

The needs of individuals with moderate to severe acquired brain injury (ABI) are dynamic and long-term and require a multifaceted, comprehensive treatment approach that often includes multiple providers both within and outside of the rehabilitation setting. These authors highlight essential elements of comprehensive community reintegration programming from this multidisciplinary perspective. A narrative review of the literature from 1995 to 2020 was conducted to highlight the current underpinnings of this practice, which include uninterrupted interventional care with ongoing needs assessment of both individuals with ABI and their caregivers/families throughout the rehabilitation continuum. Although continued assessment of the efficacy of interventions is necessitated, the current literature reveals that comprehensive programs must be intensive with licensed and appropriately credentialed staff, individualized, and well co-ordinated; emphasize socialization with a community-based multidisciplinary approach to intervention; and include caregivers and families as a primary element of program intervention throughout the larger rehabilitation continuum. A program that appears to meet the suggested criteria set forth by the relevant literature is delineated within this context. Public Significance Statement This narrative review suggests that community reintegration for individuals with moderate to severe acquired brain injury requires a well-co-ordinated, multidisciplinary approach that is proactive and conceptualized as a life-long rehabilitation process. Specifically, there is a need for ongoing involvement and needs assessment of caregivers to maximize treatment efficacy for these individuals.