Rehabilitation Counseling Practice Research Articles

Hate Crimes and Disability in America

A hate crime is a criminal offense committed against person or property that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender's prejudice. Hate crimes are sometimes termed “bias-motivated crimes.” The theoretical bases for bias motivation and their implications for hate crimes against Americans with disabilities are outlined. The history of the Hate Crime Statistics Act (1990) and its eventual extension to Americans with disabilities are also reviewed. Five years of aggregate data from FBI Hate Crimes Statistics reports are analyzed to compare and contrast the hate crimes experience of Americans with disabilities with that of other targeted groups based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and religion. Reports of hate crimes from persons with disabilities are minute as compared to those of any other group. The nature and location of hate crimes are also analyzed. Finally, the findings and their implications for such issues as alternative manifestations of prejudice, underreporting of violent crimes, cross-disability support for hate crime prevention, rehabilitation counseling practice, and future research directions are discussed.

Job Functions and Knowledge Requirements of Certified Rehabilitation Counselors in the 21st Century

The practice of rehabilitation counselors has been affected by significant changes in rehabilitation counseling practice settings and service delivery systems, evolving federal legislative mandates, and the licensure movement in the field of counseling. The purpose of this study was to identify and examine the major knowledge domains and job functions required for rehabilitation counseling practice in today's rapidly changing practice environment. Results revealed seven job functions (vocational counseling and consultation, counseling intervention, community-based rehabilitation service activities, case management, applied research, assessment, and professional advocacy) and six knowledge domains (career counseling, assessment, and consultation; counseling theories, techniques, and applications; rehabilitation services and resources; case and case-load management; health care and disability systems; and medical, functional, and environmental implications of disability). Participants' ratings of the importance of job functions and knowledge domains and implications for practice are also discussed.

Training Needs of Certified Rehabilitation Counselors for Contemporary Practice

In order to meet the demands of today's rehabilitation counseling practice environments effectively, rehabilitation counselors must be well prepared in traditional, as well as emerging, knowledge areas. The purpose of this study was to determine the training needs of certified rehabilitation counselors practicing in a variety of settings by identifying knowledge areas perceived by counselors as important for which they also reported limited preparation levels. Results of the analysis revealed 23 knowledge areas in which a critical training need was identified across all settings. Training needs for each of the three primary practice settings (public, proprietary, and nonprofit) are also provided. Implications for practice, preservice preparation, and professional development are discussed.

The Matrix: Suggesting a New Approach to Rehabilitation Assessment

Clinical judgments made during the assessment process can affect the outcome decisions that rehabilitation counselors construct about consumer performance. The individualized nature of rehabilitation assessment seems to demand a more uniform and consistent way of making sense of the various data resulting from the assessment process. Few suggestions for organizing the assessment data have been presented in rehabilitation counseling literature. Particular difficulties in making clinical judgments are reviewed, and a psychological model for organizing assessment information is suggested for enhancing clinical judgments. The result of using the matrix may assist counselors in making more accurate hypotheses about consumer performance, and in developing treatment plans with consumers. Implications for rehabilitation counseling education, practice, and research are provided.

Income

Existing theories of career development have been criticized in the rehabilitation literature for having questionable applicability to persons with disabilities. Given the diversity of disabilities and of persons with disabilities, the authors doubt that a generally applicable theory can be developed. They propose a viable alternative to guide rehabilitation counseling practice: a framework that posits that the career development of individuals (including those with disabilities) at any given point in their lives can be classified into one or more statuses, each of which calls for different interventions. These statuses form the acronym INCOME: Imagining, iNforming, Choosing, Obtaining, Maintaining, and Exiting.

Quality of Life Assessment in the Rehabilitation Counseling Relationship: Strategies and Measures

Quality of life has long been an important focus for rehabilitation counseling. Numerous writers and researchers have advocated for quality of life to serve as the primary criterion for determining rehabilitation interventions and outcomes (Livneh, 1988; Roessler, 1990; Wright, 1980). The purpose of this paper is to promote the primacy of the quality of life concept, and attempt to make quality of life a more useable concept and tool for rehabilitation counselors in their counseling relationships. This paper reviews the concept and various definitions of quality of life, describes the utility of quality of life in terms of the rehabilitation counseling process, and presents several measures of quality of life particularly suited for rehabilitation counseling practice.

Consumer Perspectives on the Revised Code of Professional Ethics for Rehabilitation Counselors

The Revised Code of Professional Ethics for Rehabilitation Counselors represents a milestone in consumer protections for the profession. By placing the counseling relationship at the apex of the code, CRCC has clearly indicated that the business of the rehabilitation counselor is to work in the best interest of the consumer. Consumers who are new to the systems of rehabilitation counseling service and who are not yet aware of the code may not know the significance of the code in directing the practice of rehabilitation counseling, although they most certainly will benefit from it. Informed consumers will find increased protections and a grievance system that will provide recourse for ethical complaints. The code will be most effectively used if consumers and the general public are informed of the code's purpose and content.

Revisiting Some Well-Worn Truths

Through personal experience, the author reestablishes the value of some principles that are basic to the practice of rehabilitation counseling. The challenges they pose for both rehabilitation consumers and providers are exemplified, and ways of truly embracing them are recommended.

Toward a Cultural Anthropology of Disability and Rehabilitation

The author reviewed both the anthropology literature and the literature of disability and rehabilitation, examining the extent to which the concepts, theories, and methods of cultural anthropology have been applied to the conceptualization and understanding of "disability and rehabilitation" as a cultural phenomenon. Future directions for investigation are suggested, with particular reference to its application in rehabilitation counseling practice and research.

Factors Contributing to Rehabilitation Counselor Success in the Private Sector in Michigan

This study sought to gain insight into the behaviors and perspectives of exemplary rehabilitation counselors and how they interpret best practices in the private sector. Twenty rehabilitation counselors nominated as exemplary were interviewed using a semi-structured, conversational approach. A qualitative approach for identifying thematic lines was used to analyze the data. Results and findings from this qualitative design are discussed and implications identified for the major theme of professional maturity. Two sub-themes were additionally identified (1) a belief in fair and equitable treatment of clients and (2) understanding the limitations of the roles and responsibilities of a private rehabilitation counselor. The client-counselor relationship was also emphasized as important to rehabilitation counseling practice in the private sector.

The Multiple Impacts of HIV/AIDS: What Rehabilitation Counselors Need to Know

The multiple impacts of HIV/AIDS as a disability were examined. Six specific impacts, including social, psychological, spiritual, medical, financial, and vocational were found to have the greatest effects on people who have HIV/AIDS. A review of the literature found that these impacts differed across four population groups; 1) people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, 2) people who use intravenous drugs, 3) women, and 4) people with hemophilia. Specific social and psychological impacts were highlighted for each population group. Implications for rehabilitation counseling practice were discussed. An interview with an individual who has HIV/AIDS and hemophilia was completed to qualify a theoretical-based literature review, to enhance the reader's understanding of the multiple impacts of HIV/AIDS, and to illuminate an experience with disability. Particular interview comments are not highlighted, but interwoven in the text, to insure confidentiality.

Humor, Coping and Adaptation to Disability

Extensive research on the use of humor in coping with stress has been conducted within the field of social psychology. Within the field of rehabilitation counseling there is a vast body of theory and research on the psychosocial aspects of adaptation to disability. The purpose of this article is to integrate the theoretical perspectives of psychosocial theories of adaptation and the role of humor in coping with disability. This integrated perspective is then applied to the practice of rehabilitation counseling with examples.

Chronic Renal Failure: The Impact of Improved Medical Treatment Options on Rehabilitation

The life quality potential and functional outcome status of individuals with chronic renal failure has been and will continue to be influenced by improved medical treatment options. Rehabilitation counselors are strongly urged to keep their knowledge up-to-date regarding developments in healthcare and technology in order to readjust their perspectives regarding rehabilitation possibilities. The progression of chronic renal failure is described followed by an update on current medical treatment options. Functional implications are presented with an emphasis on how specific treatment methods impact functional outcomes. Rehabilitation counseling practice guidelines are provided for assessment, counseling, and job placement.

Rehabilitation Counseling: Evolution and Current Status

This article provides a brief review of the evolution and current status of rehabilitation counseling. Rehabilitation counseling practice is described along with the required competencies of rehabilitation counselors in providing services to individuals with disabilities. The professional status of the discipline is reviewed in terms of programs for educational preparation, professional associations, accreditation, regulation of practice, ethical mandates, and research. Finally, continuing challenges for the discipline are identified.

Rehabilitation Counseling with College Athletes: A Hypothesis Generating Study

The responses to an open-ended survey, completed by a national response sample of 59 college coaches and athletes, were rated and categorized. The results are presented and discussed consistent with four of the study's research questions: (a) Do college athletes need counseling? (b) What kinds of problems do college athletes have? (c) To what extent do college athletes utilize the assistance of professional rehabilitation counselors in dealing with their problems? and, (d) What can rehabilitation counselors do that would be helpful to college athletes who are having problems? Recommendations for future research and implications for the practice of rehabilitation counseling are discussed.

Sexuality and Disability: Dimensions of Human Intimacy and Rehabilitation Counseling Practice

Sexuality and Disability: Dimensions of Human Intimacy and Rehabilitation Counseling Practice

Wright's Constructs of Psychosocial Adjustment to Physical Disability as a Framework for Understanding Adaptation to Chemical Dependency

Rehabilitation counselors will increasingly encounter clients who are chemically dependent to either alcohol, cocaine, or some other debilitating drug. Therefore, it is imperative for rehabilitation counselors to delineate and understand the factors Involved in psychosocial adaptation to chemical dependency. The purpose of this article is to explain how Beatrice Wright's suppositions on psychosocial adjustment to physical disability can be used to illuminate the issues involved in adaptation to drugs. Relationships between adjustment to physical disability and adaptation to drugs will be identified and discussed. Also, implications for rehabilitation counseling practice with persons who are chemically dependent will be examined.

Ethical Responses to Legislative, Organizational, and Economic Dynamics: A Four Level Model of Ethical Practice

Current legislative, organizational, and economic pressures on the practice of rehabilitation counseling have uncovered deep-seated philosophical inconsistencies and competing interests in the field. These trends are overviewed and the current status of ethical decision-making knowledge is reviewed. An integrated four level model of ethical practice is proposed as necessary to adequately address the issues operant in contemporary professional practice: (a) the clinical counseling level; (b) the clinical multidisciplinary level; (c) the institutional/agency level; and (d) the societal resource/public policy level.

Rehabilitation Counseling and the Law: Critical Considerations of Confidentiality and Privilege, Malpractice, and Forensics

In the process of providing to their clients the highest quality of rehabilitation counseling services available within their profession, rehabilitation counselors are ethically obligated to remain cognizant of, and within, the law. Utilizing references from theoretical and research literature as well as examples from judicial caselaw, three areas of law critically applicable to the practice of rehabilitation counseling are presented and discussed: (a) confidentiality and privilege; (b) malpractice; and (c) forensics. Conclusions and relevant recommendations are offered to practicing rehabilitation counselors, professional rehabilitation counseling associations and rehabilitation counselor education.

Supported Employment in Rehabilitation Counseling: Issues and Practices

Supported employment and time-limited, transitional employment training are among the services that can be provided by rehabilitation counselors to facilitate employment and community participation of people with severe disabilities. In this article we describe the provision of supported employment services within the context of the professional practice of rehabilitation counseling. An ecological framework for supported employment in rehabilitation counseling in described, issues affecting supported employment in rehabilitation counseling practice are presented, and the implications of supported employment for the profession of rehabilitation counseling are discussed.