Rehabilitation Counseling Profession Research Articles

Pathway to Trauma-Informed Rehabilitation Counseling: Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors’ Training Experiences and Use of Trauma-Relevant Knowledge in Daily Practice

The compelling evidence regarding the prevalence and profound impacts of traumatic experiences on individuals with disabilities underscores the need to establish trauma-informed service environments within vocational rehabilitation (VR). In an initial endeavor towards cultivating trauma-informed service, this study investigates the VR counselors’ professional training experiences in the topical areas of trauma. Further, the applicability of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM 2) is examined in elucidating the utilization of trauma knowledge by VR counselors in their practices. A needs assessment focusing on trauma training was distributed to 169 VR counselors to measure their trauma-related training history and utilization of trauma knowledge in practices. Path analysis was employed to examine the relationship between training experience and the actual use of trauma knowledge in counseling based on the TAM 2 framework. Participants reported having 9.71 hours of post-graduate training. Path analysis suggested adding three additional paths to the original research model, explaining how post-graduate training leads to the use of trauma knowledge in VR service through perceived ease of use, usefulness, attitude toward using, and behavioral intention. The profession of rehabilitation counseling needs to incorporate more trauma-related training into its practice, education, and research to better serve individuals with disabilities and improve the effectiveness of services.

Psychoanalytic and Sociobiological Factors in Attitudes toward Persons with Disabilities: Discussion Focused on Rehabilitation Counseling Profession

This study's goal was to examine, expand upon, and update a chapter that was first printed in a relatively small number of copies of the book titled Essays and Research on Disability1. Thomas was the sole author of the original chapter, which discussed how attitudes about disability develop from a psychoanalytic and sociobiological perspective. Kin, reciprocal, and induced altruism were the first three altruism principles in sociobiology that were covered in this study. Then, Karen Horney's neo-Freudian viewpoint (i.e., less emphasis on sex and focused more on the social environment and culture regarding personality development) and traditional Freudian theories (such as castration anxiety, loss of love, and loss of the object) were tied to sociobiology, and this relationship was further addressed in terms of the evolution of attitude toward handicap. Then, recommendations were offered across a broad range of rehabilitation counseling services and educational practices that might be improved by using these insights, both clinically and politically. Finally, the present study extends this discussion by addressing similar concerns in the areas of counseling service priorities, multicultural rehabilitation counseling, and identity politics.

Vocational Rehabilitation for Seasonal and Migrant Farmworkers in California: A Personal Narrative

Background:Little is known in the rehabilitation counseling profession regarding the needs and rehabilitation approaches used with seasonal and migrant farmworkers in the United States.Objectives:The purpose of this article is to provide rehabilitation counselors with awareness of the vocational needs of seasonal and migrant farmworkers. The article also provides best practice approaches to effectively provide vocational rehabilitation (VR) services to this population.Method:The article presents a first-person narrative by a recently retired rehabilitation counselor with more than 30 years of practice experience with the California Department of Rehabilitation. The bulk of this career focused on meeting the VR needs of migrant and seasonal farmworkers.Findings:The first-person narrative conveys best practice approaches with outreach, vocational assessment, partnerships, and job placement found helpful with seasonal and migrant farmworkers.Conclusions:To date, the rehabilitation counseling profession has largely ignored seasonal and migrant farmworkers. We hope the readers of this article will place greater professional attention on meeting the VR needs of this population in funding, program development, and training.

Forensic and Business Ethics

Now in its fifth edition, the Code of Professional Ethics for Rehabilitation Counselors continues to clarify and expand behavioral guidelines and practice for those in the rehabilitation counseling profession. Specific to certified rehabilitation counselors (CRC) in the private sector, this article details changes in the revised Code specific to Forensic Services (Section F) and Business Services (Section K). It also briefly describes the historical development of these sections of the Code and explores its implications.

Diversity and Equity in Rehabilitation Counseling Professional Associations: An Evaluation of Current Perspectives and Future Directions

Historically, research on professional association consolidation in the rehabilitation counseling profession has not been inclusive of issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). There is a long history of professional associations in rehabilitation counseling struggling to meet the diversity needs of professionals within the field. It is essential for the viability of the profession and its associations that DEI is always present in such conversations. The current study analyzed the data from 613 qualitative responses to a prompt about whether participants would like to see an organization focused on multicultural diversity and equity included in a hypothetical, consolidated professional association in rehabilitation counseling. Implications for professional association leadership, educators, and researchers are discussed.

Vocational Rehabilitation in the COVID-19 Era: The Importance of Supervision

The rehabilitation counseling profession, as an essential career, has been facing unforeseen and unprecedented complications as a result of the coronavirus-19 pandemic. As practitioners were required to begin completing their work virtually or using telehealth modalities, it became apparent that may be gaps in preparation for such a shift. It is as yet unknown what implication these changes have on employment rates of people with disabilities, in addition to other markers for independence (e.g., independent living). Implications of the sudden shift to virtual practice are especially of interest following the changes to the comprehensive system of personnel development legislated by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act reauthorization of 2014. Decreased educational requirements may lead vocational rehabilitation (VR) employees to navigate a national crisis without the essential knowledge domains required for qualified provider status. The current study asked VR personnel to indicate their comfort and preparedness in various areas, in light of the pandemic and virtual service provision ( N = 88). Items were assessed at three levels: Counselor, Agency, and Client. Taken together, the results indicate that the sample feels able to maintain evidence-based services, and that supervisors have been regularly available during this uncertain time. Implications for rehabilitation researchers, supervisors, and educators are discussed.

Advancing Rehabilitation Counseling Professional Identity in Australia

PurposeThe past few decades have witnessed significant growth in the disability sector and the rehabilitation counseling profession has responded by broadening its scope of practice to serve a range of people who experience illness, injury, and social disadvantage. Despite the sector's growth and the profession's flexible response to it, the rehabilitation counseling profession in Australia continues to face challenges in relation to its professional identity. The purpose of this article is to identify these challenges and present solutions by reviewing literature and professionalization responses in Australia and the United States.MethodIn this article, we examine ways of transcending the professional identity challenges faced by the Australian rehabilitation counseling community. This is achieved firstly by defining the characteristics of professions and their application to rehabilitation counseling and second, by suggesting possible actions to advance the profession.ResultsThe necessary responses identified include the need for stronger professional governance, further development of the evidence base, and strict professional membership regulations. These goals will require the input of professional bodies and members, universities, rehabilitation regulators, employers, people with disabilities, and their families.ConclusionsRehabilitation counseling is a valued allied health and human service profession in the Australian work injury and disability sectors. By drawing on the experience of the profession in the United States, the authors have identified issues and solutions to facilitate the sustainability and advancement of rehabilitation counseling in Australia.

Graduate Education in Rehabilitation Counseling and the Stigma of Mental Illness: A Review of the Literature

The Rehabilitation Counseling profession has foundations in disability awareness and acknowledges disability stigma as a barrier to full participation. Graduate-level rehabilitation counseling programs assist students with self-evaluation and examination of attitudes toward individuals with disabilities. Effective service providers are seen as having knowledge of how social attitudes play a part in issue of inclusion and full participation. Mental health is an area that has historically drew considerable attention. However, barriers to effective service delivery still persist and may include the stigma toward individuals with mental illness. Attitude formation and the implications of stigma will be provided in this conceptual article. This literature review will include an overview of factors that may contribute to stigmatizing reactions. Recommendations for graduate educational programs are discussed including best practices. These include creating a learning environment that focuses on student's awareness, knowledge, and skills surrounding issues that affect individuals with severe and persistent mental illness.

Implications of the Opioid Crisis for the American Disability Community

PurposeThe profession of rehabilitation counseling has long been responsive to emerging disabilities. To date, however, the profession's attention and response to the ongoing opioid crisis in the United States has been incommensurate with the scope and detriment of opioids and opioid use disorder (OUD) on Americans with disabilities. The opioid crisis, including the overuse, abuse, and overdose rates associated with prescription and illegal opioids, affects people of all ages and backgrounds. However, people with disabilities are at increased risk for developing OUDs, and they experience greater barriers to OUD treatment than people without disabilities.MethodThis article describes the origins and development of this crisis, the relationship between disability and increased risk for OUD, and the barriers to treatment that exist. We then evaluate the role of rehabilitation counseling, including the need for further action in advocacy, research, education, and policy.Results and ConclusionsThroughout this article, we encourage a more urgent and concerted response than seems to be the case presently.

From Homelessness to Employment: Perceptions of OEF and OIF Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

The purpose of this study was to document the first-person perspectives of 10 Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) regarding their efforts to move from homelessness to employment. A qualitative, phenomenological study design was employed through the use of in-depth interviews. Five themes emerged, labeled as (a) fallout from PTSD, (b) motivation to change, (c) family support, (d) rehabilitation counseling, and (e) developing a new work identity. Findings suggest that veterans of this era with PTSD express the values and attitudes needed for work adjustment and successful reintegration into the workforce. It is anticipated that the results of this study will stimulate the rehabilitation counseling profession to continue advancements in training, research, and service provision to better meet the vocational rehabilitation needs of veterans with PTSD.

Forgiveness and Disability: Reconsideration of Forgiveness as a Vital Component of the Rehabilitation Counseling Profession

Forgiveness and self-forgiveness is an area of growing interest in the allied helping professions. In recent years, the study of forgiveness has been expanded to a number of different populations. However, forgiveness as a construct, a model of understanding to cope with difficult and hurtful people, and as an intervention has not been fully considered and explored in the rehabilitation counseling profession. To help rehabilitation counseling professionals better understand the importance of forgiveness as it relates to disability, this article explains the meaning of forgiveness and self-forgiveness, barriers that inhibit the development of forgiveness, models of forgiveness, and empirical research supporting the utility of forgiveness. Following this, professionals are given information about how forgiveness may relate to the needs of persons with disabilities and professional implications for practice.

Compassion & Self-compassion: Exploration of Utility as Potential Components of the Rehabilitation Counseling Profession

Compassion and self-compassion are two constructs emerging within the research as useful agents in reducing negative thoughts, feelings, and outcomes while also promoting positive ones. To date, these constructs have not been studied or applied to the rehabilitation counseling profession or the needs ofindividuals with disabilities. In an effort to bridge this gap and to enhance rehabilitation counseling professionals' awareness of their potential value, an in-depth review of the literature and research on these two constructs was conducted. Throughout this article, compassion and self-compassion are more clearly conceptualized and barriers which may hinder their development are discussed. A review of empirical research is provided to help demonstrate their usefulness as potential healing agents in the lives of individuals with disabilities. Recommendations are proved to rehabilitation counseling professionals who work with persons with disabilities.

A Meta-Study of Publication Patterns for the Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin From 2001 to 2012

We conducted a meta-study of research articles published in Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin from 2001 to 2012. Variables associated with authors (biological sex, setting, domicile) and study characteristics (sample and research methodology) were coded and analyzed across groups of 4-year publication periods. Our findings and related implications for the rehabilitation counseling profession are discussed.

The Effects of Level of Counselor Education on Client Outcomes in the Public Vocational Rehabilitation System of New Jersey

To fulfill the goal of having counselors qualified through the Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD), the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services in New Jersey (DVRS-NJ) committed to have selected counselors attend a Master’s Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling (MRC) graduate program. This study examines 14 student/counselors who attended the MRC program while employed by DVRS-NJ and the 3,180 clients they served before, during, and after the attainment of their graduate degree. This research provides evidence that a graduate degree in rehabilitation counseling benefits not only the clients receiving services but also the efficacy and fiscal health of the entire rehabilitation services system. In addition, connection of the student to the profession of rehabilitation counseling during the pursuit of a graduate degree may suggest better outcomes. The evidence points to the value of continuing graduate degree programs, even during periods of fiscal restraint.

Rosa's Law and the Language of Disability: Implications for Rehabilitation Counseling

National campaigns promoting the use of the term intellectual disability (ID) have culminated in the recent U.S. congressional passing of Rosa's Law. Rosa's Law changes how ID is referred to in federal disability programs by removing all references to the term, “mental retardation” (U.S Government Printing Office, October, 2010). Little is known about how the change in language will affect rehabilitation counseling practice and education. Accordingly, this article addresses the following: (a) history of the descriptors of ID, (b) the stigmatizing effects of terminology, (c) eliminating the use of the r-word through Rosa's Law, and (d) implications for the rehabilitation counseling profession.

Rehabilitation Counselor Work Environment: Examining Congruence With Prototypic Work Personality

The profession of rehabilitation counseling has undergone extensive empirical study. Absent from this research has been a theoretical basis for describing and understanding the profession and its associated work environment. The focus of this study was to further our understanding of the nature of the rehabilitation counselor’s work environment and the person— environment congruence through the framework of Holland’s career theory and the Position Classification Inventory (PCI). Data concerning the work environment of 366 rehabilitation counselors were collected using a Web adaptation of the PCI to empirically establish the Holland code for the prototypical rehabilitation counselor work environment and examine its congruence with the prototypical Strong Interest Inventory interest patterns.

A Grounded Theory Approach to Defining Fragmentation and Unification in the Rehabilitation Counseling Profession

Fragmentation has been identified in the rehabilitation counseling literature as the cause of a crisis, and unification is forwarded as the cure. However, these terms are not well defined. Definitions are proposed here, providing a framework for a grounded theory study of inter- and intra-organizational communications among thirteen professional organizations via their websites. Two network models emerged from the analysis. The first described a political network that advocates for the profession. The second described a service-based network that responds to customer needs. The meaning of unification and fragmentation within these two models is explored. Authors find that the profession is more thoroughly unified in political advocacy than it is for advancing practice.

Professional Identity and the Future of Rehabilitation Counseling

This article describes a vision of rehabilitation counseling, wherein both the profession of rehabilitation counseling and the diverse roles of rehabilitation counselors are recognized and valued by rehabilitation counselors, the general public, and other professionals in promoting social justice and equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities. Using parallels with psychology, this article describes opportunities and challenges related to the visibility and centrality of rehabilitation counseling in society. Marketing is a key element in moving rehabilitation counseling from a fringe activity to a central, well-known profession. Recommendations to make rehabilitation counseling central to society include rehabilitation professional associations and other constituencies (a) working together to market the profession, which can capitalize on the ever-expanding number of career opportunities for rehabilitation counselors and (b) leveraging resources for the common good while respecting our differences.

Professional Identity and the Future of Rehabilitation Counseling

This article describes a vision of rehabilitation counseling, wherein both the profession of rehabilitation counseling and the diverse roles of rehabilitation counselors are recognized and valued by rehabilitation counselors, the general public, and other professionals in promoting social justice and equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities. Using parallels with psychology, this article describes opportunities and challenges related to the visibility and centrality of rehabilitation counseling in society. Marketing is a key element in moving rehabilitation counseling from a fringe activity to a central, well-known profession. Recommendations to make rehabilitation counseling central to society include rehabilitation professional associations and other constituencies (a) working together to market the profession, which can capitalize on the ever-expanding number of career opportunities for rehabilitation counselors and (b) leveraging resources for the common good while respecting our differences.

Rasch Analysis as a Technique to Examine the Psychometric Properties of a Career Ability Placement Survey Subtest

Rasch analysis offers researchers an innovative method for developing and validating rehabilitation instruments. Despite the increased use of Rasch analysis by allied health researchers, this method continues to be underutilized by rehabilitation counseling professionals. In the rehabilitation counseling profession, vocational evaluators use various instruments, such as the Career Ability Placement Survey (CAPS), to determine client aptitudes and justify job placement recommendations. The purpose of this article is to introduce Rasch analysis as a method for analyzing vocational assessments by examining the psychometric properties of the Word Knowledge (WK) subtest of the CAPS. University undergraduate and graduate students ( n = 227) completed the WK subtest as part of a classroom exercise. The analysis determined item hierarchy, item gaps and redundancies, item-fit statistics (unidimensionality), and person reliability and separation statistics. Although the WK construct demonstrates good psychometric characteristics relating to unidimensionality and to person reliability and separation statistics, several items deviated from the expected ordering pattern. The reordering of items revealed potential item gaps and redundancies as well as poor person—instrument match. Adding and removing items will improve the validity and reliability of the WK subtest psychometrics.