The Pros and Cons of Consolidating Rehabilitation Counseling Associations: A Qualitative Analysis of Views From the Field

Abstract

The potential for unification of rehabilitation counseling professional associations has been a conceptual debate for the past several decades. In a previous article of this special issue, Phillips et al. (2022) provided quantitative data to capture the opinions of professionals on the issue of consolidation. The present study builds on those findings by providing a qualitative analysis of the rationale provided for each response from not only professional association members, but the broader rehabilitation counseling community. The analysis provides clarity about stakeholders’ rationale regarding their beliefs on rehabilitation counseling professional association consolidation. Responses were analyzed by group according to whether participants were in favor of, opposed to, or uncertain about consolidation. The majority of respondents supportive of consolidation felt it offered a pathway toward internal unity and external validation of the profession, while the main rationale from those opposed to consolidation centered on loss of distinctiveness of individual associations. Overwhelmingly, those who were undecided on consolidation cited lack of familiarity as a barrier to providing a decisive response. Implications for these results are presented.