A Study of Counselor Time Utilization for Medically Disabled and Culturally Disadvantaged Clients

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare rehabilitation counselor time utilization for medically-disabled and culturally-disadvantaged clients. Two research questions were: Is there a significant difference in the time spent on counseling services? Is there a significant difference in the number of counseling contacts required between the two handicapped groups? First, the researchers found that rehabilitation counselors spent similar amounts of time in providing counseling services and in related activities for medically-disabled and culturally-disadvantaged clients; but counselors spent significantly more time withculturaIly-disadvantaged clients. Apparently the culturally disadvantaged seemed to require a redistribution of total time. Counselors made about the same number of contacts for both handicap groups. Thus, the results indicated that culturally-disadvantaged clients, as a group, do not require additional or markedly different counseling functions and can be easily included in the traditional vocational rehabilitation process without major role changes. They do, however, appear to require more time in a one-to-one relationship with the counselor.