Social inclusion of people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains a challenge. Associations of people living with TBI aim to support their members to have a satisfy participation in the community. However, most of their activities take place inside the associations and stimulate interactions between members. The associations struggle to allow people living with TBI to be included in the society. To improve the inclusion of its members, the association ‘TCC des Deux-Rives’ (ATCCDR) designed an innovative activity, the ‘Café-In’. The ‘Café-In’ is a club café operated by TBI members, which aims to open these members to the community through activities of exchange and sharing with partners of various community organizations (eg, Aboriginal people, mental health issues, arts interests, etc.), who are invited to discuss about their living environments. Considering the innovative aspect and the potential for generalization of this activity to other TBI associations, assessing acceptability and effectiveness of this social innovation was required.

The purpose of this project is to model and experiment the ‘Café-In’ to evaluate its effectiveness in supporting participation and social inclusion of people living with TBI. The following 3-step sequential process and methodologies will be used: Study 1) will be a cross-sectional study with n=8 participants with TBI to evaluate the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation strategies throughout a cooking workshops based on the cognitive rehabilitation’s principles. Evaluations will be conducted before and after the workshops by two occupational therapists. Study 2) will aim to explore the perception of TBI members about their inclusion in their community.  After each Café-IN session, people living with TBI will be asked to keep a registered diary to document their perception of their community integration (n = 40 newspapers) in order to understand the perceived effect of participation in the Café-In on the community integration of people living with TBI. Study 3) will explore community members' perceptions of their participation after their implication in the Café-In. Comments will be recorded, transcribed, and analysed thematically. 

The proposed protocol outlines the steps to assess the acceptability and effectiveness of the Café-In, methods to explore the perception of members with TBI and members of the community, and a plan for implementing this innovative activity to other organisms. At the end of this project an innovative activity, which can be sustained for the benefits of TBI members would be modelled. Results of the project would be synthesized in an awareness guide and will be distributed to partner organizations and other community organizations and associations with TBI members. Finally, this guide will serve as a reflective document about social inclusion of people from diverse backgrounds.

Café-IN: Center of exchange and sharing for the social inclusion of people with traumatic brain injury