Rural and Urban Differences in Vocational Rehabilitation Case Mix, Delivery Practices, and Employment Outcomes

Abstract

Purpose: To examine rural and urban differences in Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) case mix, delivery practices, and employment outcomes.Methods: Rehabilitation Services Administration 911 (RSA-911) case data do not include location indicators that allow for rural analyses. We compiled RSA-911 data with county and ZIP code information from 47 VR agencies matched with additional sources to control for geographic and economic variations. Rural analyses included cross tabulations and logistic regression.Results: Findings indicate that urban, large rural, small rural, and isolated rural outcomes and case mixes are significantly different based on education, age, minority status, receipt of Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income, and disability type (p ≤ .001).Conclusion: Geographic indicators allow for differences to be explored and considered when making programmatic changes within the VR system.