INTRODUCTION: Several factors influence the return to work (RTW) after brain injury (BI). The aims of the study were to follow-up the RTW after a vocational neuropsychological programme for individuals with a brain injury and to explore factors predicting RTW. The hypothesis was that as self-awareness was already addressed in the programme, severity of injury would have a greater impact on RTW.

METHOD: Sixty-five of 72 persons (median age 27) who had attended the programme 1998-2003 were interviewed about their occupation at 1, 2, 3 and 5 years after the programme. A logistic regression was made with the variables concerning process skill, somatic problems and irritability, the digit symbol coding and pre-morbid occupation to explore predictors of RTW.

RESULTS: The main cause was TBI (44.6%). Before injury 77% were employed or studied and after the injury 80% did not have any occupation. After 5 years 40% had returned to work. The only significant variable in the regression was the pre-morbid occupation.

DISCUSSION: The study stresses the difficulty to know the key elements involved in RTW which confirms the need for rehabilitation to focus on several factors in different contexts in order to affect the outcome.